The Romanian-language schools in Transnistria are subject to limitations by the government of Transnistria, an unrecognized breakaway region of Moldova since 1992.
Romanian-language schools that identified their language as Moldovan were first established in Transnistria after the 1924 formation of the Moldavian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Moldavian ASSR), which was part of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic (Ukrainian SSR). In 1940, the former Moldavian ASSR was split; 8 districts were included in the Ukrainian SSR and 6 districts were joined with part of Bessarabia in the new Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldavia (Moldavian SSR). In the Ukrainian part of the former Moldavian ASSR, Romanian-language schools were transformed into Russian-language schools, but in the 6 districts that remained part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Moldova a network of "Moldovan-language schools" was kept.
The Moldovan 1989 language law, that introduced the Latin script as the official script of the Republic of Moldova, was boycotted by the Transnistrian authorities, and all Romanian-language schools in Transnistria were ordered to keep the Cyrillic script. After the War of Transnistria ended in mid-1992, the local schools became regulated by the government of Transnistria. The schools that chose to use the Latin script back in 1989 came under pressure of the authorities and most were forced to return to the Cyrillic script. Only six Romanian-language schools identifying as such were allowed to keep the Latin script in Transnistria.
Attempts to expand the number of schools which use Latin script are met with heavy-handed repression. In 1996, the director of the only Romanian-language school in Slobozia, who supported the wish of the parents to conduct education in Latin alphabet, was fired and forced to leave the region. In 1999, a lecturer of the Romanian language of the Bender Pedagogical College was dismissed for promoting the Latin script in the institution. This dismissal was preceded by threats on the phone and an aggression in the building where she lived. [1] In September 1996, the administration of Grigoriopol used Cossacks and police members to stop the activity of a Romanian-language school. [2] On 2 October 1996 three teachers were arrested and taken to Tiraspol. On 7 October 1996, as a result of a demarche by the President of the Republic of Moldova and the OSCE Mission, the teachers were released.
Another attempt to teach Romanian clandestinely in Grigoriopol, in a "PMR state-funded school", failed in 2002. Teaching staff and parents were blatantly vilified in the local press as "enemies of the State". [3] One by one, they were invited to "reconsider", threatened with loss of employment and the corresponding entitlement to housing. Children and teachers were forced to write explanations as to why did they use the Latin script and local officials routinely visited classes to check whether tuition was being "properly" conducted. The parent-teacher association was abolished and its head, Mihai Speian, was arrested. [4] The Romanian school in Grigoriopol was forced to move to Doroțcaia, a village controlled by Chișinău, and children commute 10–15 km daily to attend the school.
In the summer of 2004, the Transnistrian authorities closed four of the six schools in the region that taught Romanian using the Latin script. Some of the 3,400 enrolled children were affected by this measure and the teachers and parents who opposed the closures were temporarily arrested for up to six hours. During the crisis, the Moldovan government decided to create a blockade that would isolate the disputed region from the rest of the world. The blockade was ineffective because of a lack of cooperation from Ukraine, led at the time by Leonid Kuchma. Transnistria retaliated with a series of actions meant to destabilize the economic situation in Moldova, in particular, by cutting the power supply from the power plants that were built in Transnistria in Soviet times. As a result, this crisis generated power outages in parts of Moldova.
A leading figure in the conflict was Elena Vasilievna Bomeshko, the Minister of Education for Transnistria. According to her and "official Transnistrian policy" as she said it, the language is referred to as "Romanian" when it is taught in Latin script and referred to as "Moldovan" when the Cyrillic script is used. Transnistria rejects accusations of anti-Romanian bias and defends its preference of Cyrillic for Romanian as a way to maintain the original language, pointing to the fact as far back as the Middle Ages, Moldovan Bibles were always written in Cyrillic. [5] While the Romanian language used the Cyrillic alphabet for centuries, it is no longer used in Romania. Cyrillic script is still used in some parts of Moldova, but only one newspaper (state-owned by the Transnistrian authorities) prints a few hundred copies in Cyrillic. [6]
The closed Romanian schools were reopened, after registering as private institutions with the Transnistrian authorities. Pressure from the European Union (a travel ban was introduced to 10 Transnistrian education officials) probably sped up the process, [7] but they still have the status of "private schools" and consequently do not receive funding from the Transnistrian government.
Many teachers and parents of students studying at "Moldovan" schools with Cyrillic script had contacted the Moldovan Helsinki Committee for Human Rights to ask for support to turn education in Romanian (Latin script), as the studies based on the Cyrillic script and Soviet curricula do not have any perspective and the children are unable to pursue higher studies anywhere. [8] The OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities has condemned the actions of Transnistrian authorities as a "linguistic cleansing". [9]
An OSCE report from June 2005 states: "If they [Moldovan parents in Transnistria] enroll their children in one of these schools that offer a Moldovan curriculum using a Latin script, they risk being threatened by the regional security service, and seeing their jobs put in jeopardy. Sending their children in one of the 33 Transdniestrian schools they teach in their native language in Cyrillic is, however, hardly an appealing alternative, as the schools follow an out-dated curriculum and use textbooks from the Soviet period". [10] This is the reason why many Moldovans from Transnistria send their children in harassment-free Russian language schools.
Transnistrian authorities do not recognize the diplomas issued by Moldovan schools using Latin script, making impossible for graduates of those schools to study on Transnistrian higher educational institutions. [11]
In November 2006, the European Court of Human Rights accepted to examine the claims submitted by three Moldovan schools in Transnistria (from Bender, Rîbnița and Grigoriopol) regarding the violation of their right to education and right to work in conditions of non-discrimination. The three schools concerned regard Russia and Moldova as responsible for violation of their rights. [12] In June 2009, the Court conducted hearings on three similar cases: Caldare and 42 Others v. Moldova and Russia (no. 8252/05), Catan and 27 Others v. Moldova and Russia (no. 43370/04), Cervaschi and 98 Others v. Moldova and Russia (no. 18454/06). [13] In 2010, the Court has decided the case to be partly admissible [14] In 2012, the Court decided that the right to education of the applicants was violated by Russia, but not by Moldova. [15]
In November 2006, Louis O'Neill, head of the OSCE mission to Moldova, urged local authorities in the Transnistrian city of Rîbnița to return a confiscated building to the Romanian-language school located in the city. The building was built by the Government of Moldova and was almost finished in 2004, when Transnistrian police took it by force, during the school crisis. [16]
In August 2021, the Transnistrian government refused to register the Lucian Blaga Theoretical Lyceum at Tiraspol and forced it to cease its activities for 3 months, which will affect the school year of the students of the school and constitutes a violation of several articles of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. [17]
There are eight schools teaching Romanian in different localities of Transnistria: [18] [19] [20] [21]
The following villages with ethnic Romanian or Moldovan majorities or important minorities in Transnistria lack a school in their native languages: [22] [23]
This article is about the demographic features of the population of Moldova, including distribution, ethnicity, languages, religious affiliation and other statistical data.
Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state located in the narrow strip of land between the river Dniester and the Moldovan–Ukrainian border that is internationally recognised as part of Moldova. Its capital and largest city is Tiraspol. Transnistria has been recognised by only three other unrecognised or partially recognised breakaway states: Abkhazia, Artsakh, and South Ossetia. Transnistria is designated by the Republic of Moldova as the Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester, or Stînga Nistrului.
According to the Moldovan law on territorial administrative organisation, Moldova is divided administratively into the following administrative territorial units: districts, cities/towns and villages. The administrative territorial organization of Moldova is made on 2 levels:
Grigoriopol is a town in the Administrative-Territorial Units of the Left Bank of the Dniester, Moldova. It is the seat of the Grigoriopol District of Transnistria. The city is located on the left (eastern) bank of the river Dniester at 47°09′N29°18′E, in central Transnistria. Grigoriopol is composed of the city itself, and a small village Crasnoe (Красное). The town itself had a population of 11,473 in 2004.
The Transnistria War was an armed conflict that broke out in 2 November 1990 in Dubăsari between pro-Transnistria (PMR) forces, including the Transnistrian Republican Guard, militia and Cossack units, and pro-Moldovan forces, including Moldovan troops and police.
The Transnistria conflict is an ongoing frozen conflict between Moldova and the unrecognized state of Transnistria. Its most active phase was the Transnistria War, which ended in a Russian-backed Transnistrian victory. There have been several attempts to resolve the conflict, although none have been successful. The conflict may be considered as having started on 2 September 1990, when Transnistria made a sovereignty declaration from Moldova.
This is the history of Transnistria. See also the history of Europe.
Although most commonly known in English as Transnistria, the official name of the region is Pridnestrovie. Here is a detailed explanation of the names used for Transnistria, both official and unofficial, as they appear in the local languages and in English.
The state of affairs with human rights in Transnistria has been criticized by several governments and international organizations. The Republic of Moldova, and other states and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claim that the government of Transnistria is authoritarian and has a record of arbitrary arrest and torture.
The mass media of Transnistria, the breakaway territory within the borders of Moldova, features both state-owned or supported outlets and opposition media. Publications are in Russian, with a single newspaper in each of the other two official languages, Moldovan (Romanian), and Ukrainian.
Doroțcaia is a village in the Dubăsari District, Republic of Moldova, situated on the eastern bank of the River Dniester.
The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (PMSSR), also commonly known as Soviet Transnistria or simply known as Transnistria, was created on the eastern periphery of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (MSSR) in 1990 by pro-Soviet separatists who hoped to remain within the Soviet Union when it became clear that the MSSR would achieve independence from the USSR and possibly unite with Romania. The PMSSR was never recognised as a Soviet republic by the authorities in either Moscow or Chișinău. In 1991, the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic succeeded the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.
A demographic history of Transnistria shows that Transnistria has been home to numerous ethnic groups, in varying proportions, over time.
This timeline of events is a chronological list of incidents and other notable occurrences related to the War of Transnistria, including events leading up to the war.
Law enforcement in Transnistria is administered by the region's own police force. Transnistria functions as a presidential republic, with its own government, parliament, military, paramilitary and police (militsiya) force, constitution, currency, postal system and stamps, flag, national anthem, and coat of arms.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Transnistria:
Standard license plates of Transnistria are 520 mm wide and 112 mm high, made of metal with 6 embossed characters - one letter, three numbers and two more letters - written using the DIN 1451 Mittelschrift font. On the left part of the plates there is also a modified euroband on a white background, having the flag of the PMR instead of the EU symbol. A holographic sticker in the place of the international country code underneath it was placed until 2015, when a law was revised, additionally removing black separation line between euroband and registration number; instead, two interpolated grey sine waves were added on the bottom of the plate. Government plates only have 5 embossed characters - three numbers and two letters. Only symbols that are common to both the Cyrillic and the Latin alphabets are used, and with their Cyrillic meaning. Its current design derives from Moldovan plates of 1992 design, but is slightly changed. Military plates are using Soviet design from 1959, and tractor plates are also using Soviet design, but from 1980.
The Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic is subdivided into five raions:
Women in Transnistria are women who live in or are from Transnistria.
The so-called Berlin Plus package is the name given to a series of eight points that were agreed to be implemented in a protocol signed in 2016 during a meeting of the 5+2 format that took place on that year in Berlin, Germany, to improve the situation of the Transnistria conflict between Moldova and the unrecognized breakaway state of Transnistria. These eight points, which had been under negotiation since 2012, are the following:
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