GAGAUZIA - Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia / Gagauz Yeri

Gagauzia or Gagauz Yeri (Gagauz: Gagauz Yeri or Gagauziya; Romanian: Găgăuzia; Russian: Гагаузия, romanized: Gagauzija), officially the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia (Gagauz: Avtonom Territorial Bölümlüü Gagauziya; Romanian: Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia; Russian: Автономное территориальное образование Гагаузия, romanized: Avtonomnoje territoriaľnoje obrazovanije Gagauzija), is an autonomous region of Moldova. Its autonomy is ethnically motivated by the predominance of the Gagauz people, who are primarily Orthodox Turkic-speaking people.  All of the territory of Gagauzia was part of the Kingdom of Romania in the early 20th century before being carved up into the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II, incorporating the present day state into the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic. As the Soviet Union began into disintegrate, Gagauzia declared independence in 1990, but was integrated into Moldova in 1994.  Gagauz Yeri literally means "place of the Gagauz".

The Gagauzian national movement intensified when Moldavian (Romanian) was accepted as the official language of the Republic of Moldova in August 1989, replacing Russian, the official language of the USSR. A part of the multiethnic population of southern Moldova was concerned about the change in official languages. They had a lack of confidence in the central government in Chișinău. The Gagauz were also worried about the implications for them if Moldova reunited with Romania, as seemed likely at the time. In August 1990, Comrat declared itself an autonomous republic, but the Moldovan government annulled the declaration as unconstitutional. Support for the Soviet Union remained high in Gagauzia, with a referendum in March 1991 returning an almost unanimous vote in favour of remaining part of the USSR. Many Gagauz supported the Moscow coup attempt in August 1991, and Gagauzia declared itself an independent republic on 19 August 1991. September Transnistria declared its independence, thus further straining relations with the government of Moldova. But, when the Moldovan parliament voted on independence on 27 August 1991, six of the 12 Gagauz deputies in the Moldovan parliament voted in favour, while the other six abstained. The Moldovan government began to pay more attention to minority rights.

In February 1994, President Mircea Snegur promised autonomy to the Gagauz, but opposed independence. He was also opposed to the suggestion that Moldova become a federal state made up of three republics: Moldova, Gagauzia, and Transnistria. In 1994, the Parliament of Moldova awarded to "the people of Gagauzia" (through the adoption of the new Constitution of Moldova) the right of "external self-determination". On 23 December 1994, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova accepted the "Law on the Special Legal Status of Gagauzia" (Gagauz: Gagauz Yeri), resolving the dispute peacefully. This date is now a Gagauz holiday. Gagauzia is now a "national-territorial autonomous unit" with three official languages: Romanian, Gagauz, and Russian.

Like many countries and territories of the former USSR, Moldova suffers from the large quantities of completely bogus philatelic, material bearing the names "Gagauzia", "Gagauzian Republic", "Гагаузия", "Komrat", "Chadir Lunga" and others. This material is being printed and circulated to unsuspecting collectors all over the world. Such material is entirely worthless in philatelic terms and collectors should be made aware of this fact. Gagauzia is a region in southern Moldova. It is primarily inhabited by ethnic Turkish Christians. In or around 1995 there was a movement to gain a special semi-autonomous status for the region within Moldova and this was granted some years later. During 1995 a number of Moldovan and former USSR stamps were overprinted to appear as though they were issued by Gagauzia as an independent state. There were also stamp "issues" featuring original designs bearing the name "Gagauzia". ALL of this material is completely unofficial and bogus. At no time did Gagauzia operate a postal service independently of Moldova. At no time did the Moldovan post office issue stamps for use in Gagauzia. Some postally used covers have been seen bearing Gagauzian stamps, but these are all bogus also. These stamps were all privately made either for propaganda purposes or in the case of more recent products, purely for speculative reasons.

This is another cover sent from Comrat, the capital city of Gagauzia, the autonomous region within Moldova. The cover posted on August 26, 2016 and I received on October 10, 2016.

These  covers sent by Michel from Slovakia, during his trip to Gagauzia . This is an autonomous region within Moldova, so not easy to get the covers posted from there. The covers posted on August 26, 2016 and I received on September 19, 2016.