Moldovans

For other uses, see Moldovans (disambiguation).

Moldovans

Regions with significant populations
Moldova: 2,741,849 (2004) (Transnistria included) [6] Ukraine: 258,619 (2001) [7] Russia: 172,330 (2002) [8] Italy: 100,434 (2006) Kazakhstan: 19,458 (1999) Portugal: 12,632 (2003) [9] Spain: 10,434 (2006) Belarus: 4,300 (1999) [10] Kyrgyzstan: 778 (1999) [11] Tajikistan: 300 (2000) [12]
Languages
Moldovan/Romanian
Religion
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox.
Related ethnic groups
• Vlachs   • Romanians   • Aromanians   • Megleno-Romanians   • Istro-Romanians note:Many Moldovans declare themselves Romanians

Moldovans, or Moldavians (Moldovan/Romanian: Moldoveni; Молдовень is the form used by the Moldovan Cyrillic script, which nowadays has official status only in Transnistria) are the native population in, depending on one's interpretation, all or part of the lands that correspond to the former Principality of Moldavia. In the Republic of Moldova Moldovans are officially recognized as a part of the romanian people, not as a separate ethnic group .

The recognition of Moldovans as a separate ethnicity, distinct from Romanians, is a relatively new and controversial subject. Outside of Moldova, this group is currently recognized as a minority ethnic group by several CIS countries.

The majority of the people counted as "Moldovans" live in Moldova, where, according to the 2004 Moldovan Census, they comprise 76.1% of the population, and in Ukraine, where according to the 2001 Ukrainian census results they constitute a recognized ethnic minority of 0.53%.

History

Prior to the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia in the 1940s, which led to the formation of the Moldovan SSR Moldovans in the territories of modern Romania and Moldova were considered to form a subgroup or regional group of the Romanian ethnos along with Transylvanians, Oltenians, etc. A series of Soviet propaganda campaigns attempted to erase the links between Moldova and Romania in order to dissuade any ideas of re-unification of the two states, including an emphasized 'distinct' Moldovan language, history, culture etc. and the claim that Moldovans constitute a separate ethnic group.

The official Soviet policy on the Moldovan language and identity was not constant: there were two intervals (1932-1937 and in the mid-1950s) during which the Soviet scholars were allowed to declare the unity between the two languages.

Numerous Romanians, as well as a large part of the Moldovan populace, claim that external interference rather than any actual differences led to Moldova's increasingly separate identity. Despite this, certain Moldovans have pressed for recognition of an ethnic Moldovan identity, separate from that of Romanians. In the 2004 census, out of the 3,383,332 people living in Moldova, 16.5% (558,508) chose Romanian as their mother tongue, whereas 60% chose Moldovan. While 40% of all urban Romanian/Moldovan speakers chose Romanian as their mother tongue, in the country side hardly each 7th Romanian/Moldovan speaker indicated Romanian as his mother tongue.

Religion

Some differences between Moldovans and Romanians include denominational affiliation, as under Soviet rule the Orthodox Church of Bessarabia was transferred from the Romanian Orthodox Church to the Russian Orthodox Church. However, immediately after Moldova declared independence from the Soviet Union, the Romanian Orthodox Church reorganized the Moldovan Metropolitan Church under its authority, forming the autonomous Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia (Romanian/Moldovan: "Mitropolia Basarabiei"). Moldovans are now split between the Metropolitan Church of Bessarabia and the Metropolitan Church of Chişinău and the Whole Moldova which depends on the Russian Patriarchate.

Moldovan ethnos theory and the Romanian identity

In the past, the term Moldavian/Moldovan has been used to refer to the population of the historical Principality of Moldavia. Nevertheless, after 1924, Soviet sociologists began using the term to demonstrate the distinctiveness of the natives of Bessarabia, in a movement called Moldovenism. On December 19, 2003, the Moldovan Parliament adopted "The Concept on National Policy of the Republic of Moldova" which critics have accused is a revival of the Soviet-style Moldovenist theories. The document states that Moldovans and Romanians are two distinct peoples and speak two different languages, Romanians form an ethnic minority in Moldova, and that the Republic of Moldova is the legitimate successor to the Principality.

Today, Moldovans are recognized as an ethnic group by several former Soviet countries. Presently, the largest number of people who declared their ethnicity as Moldovan live in the Republic of Moldova, where according to the 2004 Census, they comprise 76.1% of the population, although a group of international census experts has identified certain problems in the collection of data for this census, particularly in the domain of nationality (that is, Romanian vs. Moldovan) and language. These experts claim that many respondents were encouraged to state that they were "Moldovans" rather than "Romanians". In Ukraine, according to that country's census in 2001, Moldovans constitute a recognized ethnic minority of 0.53% (7.28% in Chernivtsi Oblast and 5.01% in Odessa Oblast).

Controversy

The issue is an extremely sensitive and controversial one. Even within the Republic of Moldova there is disagreement on whether Moldovans represent a distinct ethnic group, as demonstrated by the political platforms of parties such as the PPCD. In Romania, despite its proximity to Moldova, no Moldovan ethnicity was reported in the 2002 census, as Moldovans are understood to be a regional Romanian subgroup that lives in the Romanian historical province of Moldavia. The Romanian government as well as various other states do not recognize the existence of a Moldovan ethnic group. In the CIA World Factbook. a single entry "Moldovan/Romanian" is used.

See also

• Ethnogenesis

References

• King, C. The Moldovans: Romania, Russia and the Politics of Culture, Hoover Institution Press, 2000, ISBN 0-8179-9792-X.