minority Gagauz group in Moldova. The Gagauz represent approximately four-percent of the Moldovan population, and the Turkish language is spoken among them in two different dialects within country: Bulgar Gagauzi and Maritime Gagauzi.14 Here is evidence of confusion even within the same ethnic groups. The country of Moldova is extremely small, and the Gagauz population represents a slight minority within the boundaries of this tiny state. Yet, still there is a linguistic wall standing even between this tiny minority group. Generally speaking, the Gagauz identify with Turkish culture, though their ethnicity is unknown and thought to perhaps be Bulgarian.15 The majority of them certainly consider themselves to be Turkic. This is evident in how they identify their own language. Most of them will say that they speak Turkish, or sometimes türkçä, though they distinguish this from both Ottoman and Gagauz languages.16 Thus, adding to the identity confusion within Moldova and its small territories is the stubborn refusal among some of the groups to acknowledge their own roots. These are a people who are oftentimes bigoted against their very race, and because they identify with another culture on a closer level, they actively practice a damaging self-denial that eschews all reason and historical evidence. One striking way in which the Gagauz separate themselves from the Turks is their religious affiliation. Though profoundly impacted by Turkish culture, the Gagauz have not embraced Turkish religion, but have remained staunchly Orthodox Christians.17 In fact, even under Russian subjugation in the mid-nineteenth century, the Gagauz were not swayed away from their own religious practices. Perhaps part of the reason that they have maintained their religion is again attributable to language barriers. Under Russian rule, the Gagauz were refused access to clergy that spoke their language.18 This of course presented profound problems for both clergy and parishioners. The clergy bemoaned the inability to understand parishioner confession and actually resented the Gagauz as an inferior people- group, and many of the people withdrew from worship services altogether.19 It was not until the early-twentieth
14 Minahan, 184.
15 Ibid.
16 Elizaveta N. Kvilinkova, “The Gagauz Language through the Prism of Gagauz Ethnic Identity,” Anthropology and Archeology of Eurasia 52, no. 1 (Summer 2013): 75, accessed 2/6/2016, http://search.ebscohost.com/ login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=91834709&site=ehost-live.
17 Minahan, 184.
18 Kvilinkova, 76.
Alexandria Historical Review, Page 44