Minorities policy in the post‐Soviet republics: The case of the Gagauzi

This article explores the obstacles to crafting comprehensive policies for ethnic minorities within the Soviet successor states. It focuses on a case that has been viewed as a model for the peaceful resolution of ethnic conflict in the region: Moldova's devolution of power to its small Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority. The relationship between the Moldovan government and the Gagauzi reached its nadir in 1990, when Moldovan volunteer forces and Gagauz irregulars stood at the brink of all‐out civil war over the issue of a separate Gagauz political entity. Since then, however, Moldova has created a special administrative unit known as Gagauz Yeri ('the Gagauz land'). In contrast to other ethno‐territorial disputes in the former Soviet Union, the Gagauz case has illustrated that a range of policy options exists between the extremes of maintaining a highly centralized, unitary state structure and the devolution of authority to loosely related confederative units.