Romanian Gagauz fail to get visas to visit World Gagauz Congress in Moldova

Representatives of the Gagauz minority in Romania failed to receive Moldovan visas to be able to visit the country for the second annual World Gagauz Congress, scheduled for August 18 and 19.

The Moldovan Embassy in Chisinau refused to grant the visas because the applicants did not have the necessary documents from the Moldovan Interior Ministry.

The Gagauz are a Christian Orthodox Turkic people who live in an autonomous region in the south of Moldova.

Moldova imposed a visa regime on Romanian citizens immediately after the April 7 devastation of the Parliament and Presidential buildings, when President Voronin accused Bucharest of involvement in a coup. The Prosecutor General later contradicted Mr. Voronin by saying that Romania was not involved in the mass disorders "as a country."

After the visa regime was imposed, Moldovan and Romanian media outlets covered numerous cases of family members being unable to see each other because of the difficulties of getting a Moldovan visa.

h/t www.actualpress.md