Between Lenin and Atatürk: How statues tell the story of Gagauzia6 min read
The Autonomous Region of Gagauzia, located in the south of Moldova, has approximately 160,000 inhabitants. The region is primarily populated by Gagauzians, a Turkic minority who are predominantly Orthodox Christian and, as a lasting consequence of Soviet hegemony, speak Russian. Similar to the more well-known breakaway region of Transnistria, Gagauzia declared independence in 1990 during the gradual collapse of the Soviet Union. Although it was reintegrated into Moldova just four years later, Gagauzia’s relationship with the central government in Chișinău remains tense.
As veiled, elderly women with shopping carts pass by the market stands, the local youth listen, bored, to the rumbling of a revving Lada Samara. On the sandy streets, groups of burly men linger. They wear dark leather jackets, workers’ caps, and sip cups of kvass or beer. The temptation to join the men for a sip is strong. There seems to be little happening in the streets of Comrat, the Gagauz capital.
Yet, from these seemingly dull streets, a Gagauz story emerges, told by the old and new statues that populate them. These statues are not here simply to beautify the public space; they reflect a national heritage and carry a deeper cultural and political significance. Each statue highlights an individual, but together they tell a larger story of Gagauzia: about its past, its present, and its aspirations for the future.
A Turkish home
Through the centre of Comrat runs the Strada Lenin (Lenin Street). A wide asphalt road next to a yellow Russian Orthodox church with golden domes. In front of the church, a girl barely eighteen years old pours kvass from a large yellow tank on wheels into plastic cups. Old Soviet decorations hang above the road. Slowly, rust is taking over these red five-pointed socialist stars.
Amidst the rusting Russian influence stands the Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Library, opened in 1998. It was inaugurated by the then-Turkish president Süleyman Demirel (1924-2015). In 2017, a bust of Atatürk (1881-1938) was also placed beside the library. Fresh white flowers are planted next to the statue of the founder of the modern Turkish state — a sign of reverence. In a region where the Gagauz, a Turkic people, are often seen as an ethnic minority, there is a strong cultural and political connection to Turkey. Atatürk is not the only Turkish leader immortalised in the city.
Süleyman Demirel is also commemorated in the city and can be found in the Heroes’ Gallery. This gallery — opened in 2006 — lies off a side street of Strada Lenin. It is a long park with a central path, lined with red marble pedestals with bronze busts on each side, surrounded by yellow and purple flowers. The Turkish presidents present illustrate the strong cultural ties between Gagauzia and the Turkic world.
Heydar Aliyev (1923-2003), the third president of Azerbaijan, who is also featured in the Heroes’ Gallery, embodies this connection as well. With the shared Turkish identity of Gagauzia and Azerbaijan, Aliyev is said to have advocated for the interests of Gagauzia, though this seemed mostly strategic for him within the context of geopolitical interests, providing a counterweight to Russian and Western influence in Moldova. Not far from Aliyev also stands Nursultan Nazarbayev (1940), the first president of Kazakhstan. His policies likewise promoted Turkish unity and cultural ties among Turkic-speaking peoples.
A Russian memory
“There, around the corner by that staircase, you can take a look too,” says the guide at the National History Museum. She points to a part of the stairwell where various items are stored. Among them, on a table about a metre high, stands a white marble bust of Lenin (1870-1924), roughly the same size. When asked why she wanted to show this tucked-away statue at the end of her tour, she gazes upward and after a brief pause says, “We are good people!” She quickly adds, “It’s our history!”
Her second explanation is more convincing than her first. This statue tells the story of Soviet history. It is not the only statue of Lenin that keeps this history alive. On Strada Lenin, in the central square, the Russian revolutionary still stands on his pedestal. Compared to the rest of Moldova, this is quite unique; after Moldova gained independence from the Soviet Union, most Lenin statues disappeared from public spaces. Transnistria and Gagauzia are exceptions to this. Vladimir Lenin still symbolises the Soviet identity and a connection to Russia, reinforced by Russian media and political support from Moscow.
Farther along in the Heroes’ Gallery stands another Russian figure: the poet Alexander Pushkin (1799-1837), a symbol of the Russian language and culture in Gagauzia, where Russian is still spoken and Russian influences are deeply woven into the local identity. Although it’s unclear whether Pushkin ever met the Gagauz people, he did visit parts of Bessarabia, where the Gagauz also lived, during his exile in the early nineteenth century, and today he is used as a tool to propagate Russian imperial culture.
Local heroes
“A commemoration of a patriot of the Gagauz people” is noted on the website of Comrat State University. In 2022, the university commemorated the 85th birthday of Mariya Marunevic (1937-2004) during its annual science conference, keeping her memory alive, especially among young people.
Marunevic is one of the few Gagauz people represented in the Heroes’ Gallery. Due to her dedication to the cultural and educational development of Gagauzia, she is still remembered as a prominent figure. She advocated for greater autonomy, education in the Gagauz language, and preservation of local traditions, striving to strengthen the Gagauz identity among younger generations.
Other Gagauz heroes in the gallery are mainly literary figures. Among them is Nikolay Baboglu (1928-2008), who highlighted Gagauz culture in his work, addressing themes such as dysfunctional bureaucracy, war, and moral values.
Or consider the work of poet, writer, and filmmaker Dmitriy Kara Çoban (1933-1989). He was a foundational figure in Gagauz literature, particularly in the 1950s and 60s. In 1966, he established a museum to preserve Gagauz traditional crafts and clothing, through which Kara Çoban sought to preserve and strengthen the Gagauz identity.
One of the most important names in Gagauz literature in the Gallery is Dionis Tanasoğlu (1922-2006). He contributed to the development of both Cyrillic and Latin alphabets for the Gagauz language, making it easier to publish in Gagauz. He did so frequently, especially under Soviet rule. Due to censorship, themes such as communism, Lenin, or praise for the party are prominent in his work. In this way, the Soviet past remains connected to Gagauz literature.
A Gagauz story
The presence of Gagauz, Turkish, and Russian statues symbolises the layers within Gagauzia’s identity, rooted in Turkic culture but also heavily influenced by Russian language and culture. This identity reflects the complex socio-political situation of this post-Soviet region.
The statues shape memories of Russian and Soviet influences, the political pull of the Turkic world, and the comfort found in their own language, literature, and poetry. The statues in Comrat serve not only as commemorative objects; they reveal connections to the past but also offer a vision of cultural and political recognition for the future. The statues on the streets tell the story of the Gagauz people, their heroes, and the external forces that have shaped their history.
This article was originally published in Dutch on 9 November 2024 on Donau.
