Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania

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Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania
27 March
Next time27 March 2024 (2024-03)
Frequencyannual
Related toGreat Union Day (1 December)

The Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (

Principality of Moldavia, which united with Wallachia to form modern Romania. The region was annexed in 1812 by the Russian Empire, but it became independent and united with Romania
on 27 March 1918.

Eventually, in 1940, Romania

Republic of Moldova, developing since then a movement for unification with Romania. Today, the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania is celebrated in Romania, where it has been an official holiday since 2017, and in Moldova, including the legally Moldovan breakaway territory of Transnistria
.

Background

Romania in 1919, with Bessarabia marked as (3)

Northern Bukovina after the occupation of these territories by the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1940, with Romania regaining them briefly in 1941 but losing them again in 1944.[1]

Under Soviet rule, Bessarabia was divided into different parts. The

Republic of Moldova, which later lost control of Transnistria following the Transnistria War. Since the independence of Moldova, there has been a unification movement to unite the country with Romania.[3]

History

Romania

The Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania was unanimously adopted by the Senate of Romania on 13 October 2015, with 79 votes in favor.[5] Two years later, it was adopted by the Chamber of Deputies of Romania on 14 March 2017 with 260 votes in favor, 1 against and 6 abstentions.[6][7] The person who started this project, Eugen Tomac, then deputy of the People's Movement Party (PMP), argued that "forgetting history is the same as betrayal".[6] The holiday became official in Romania after President Klaus Iohannis promulgated it on 27 March 2017.[8]

According to the law that passed the holiday, Law no. 36/2017, which was published on the

Romanian flag is flown on this day.[9]

On 27 March 2018, on the centenary of the unification of Bessarabia with Romania, Iohannis sent a message talking about the importance of this past event and that it represents a source of inspiration to develop and deepen the relations between Romania and Moldova and the European integration of the latter, which Romania actively supports.[10] Later, in 2021, George Simion, leader of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), announced that the party would begin operating in Moldova on the occasion of the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania.[11]

Moldova

In 2020, Mișcarea Politică Unirea ("Union Political Movement"), a Moldovan political party, proposed to establish in Moldova a holiday similar to the Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, but this idea was rejected.[12] However, it is celebrated anyway by some Moldovan supporters of the unification with Romania. For example, in 2018, thousands of people demonstrated in Chișinău, the Moldovan capital, to celebrate the centenary of the 1918 union and demand a new one with Romania.[13] A year earlier, the Romanian Cultural Institute (ICR) had organized various events and spectacles in Moldova on this day.[14]

Celebrations of this kind have also occurred in Transnistria. In 2017, the Lucian Blaga High School in Tiraspol organized events in which teachers and students sang and recited Romanian patriotic songs and poems and placed a huge Romanian flag in the hallways of the building.[15]

See also

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ Șandru, Florin (2013). "Political and cultural evolution of the Romanians in the Romanian ancestral territories of Bessarabia and Bukovina over the course of time". Bulletin of "Carol I" National Defense University. 2 (1): 46–65.
  3. ^ .
  4. ^ Țîcu, Octavian (2018). "Societal security and state-building in the Republic of Moldova: complications for regional and European contexts". Eurolimes. 23: 347–365.
  5. ^ Lazăr, Ana Maria (13 October 2015). "Proiect adoptat de Senat: 27 martie, declarată Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România ca zi de sărbătoare națională". Mediafax (in Romanian).
  6. ^ a b Mănoiu, Cătălina (14 March 2017). "Camera Deputaților a declarat o nouă SĂRBĂTOARE NAȚIONALĂ. Când va fi aceasta și ce semnificație are". Mediafax (in Romanian).
  7. ^ Marica, Irina (15 March 2017). "New national holiday in Romania: The union with Bessarabia celebrated on March 27". Romania Insider.
  8. ^ "Declararea zilei de 27 martie – Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România ca zi de sărbătoare națională" (in Romanian). President of Romania. 27 March 2017.
  9. ^ "Legea nr. 36/2017 pentru declararea zilei de 27 martie – Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România ca zi de sărbătoare națională" (in Romanian). Parliament of Romania. 29 March 2017.
  10. ^ "Mesajul lui Klaus Iohannis la o sută de ani de la unirea Basarabiei cu România". Digi24 (in Romanian). 27 March 2018.
  11. ^ "George Simion: AUR se va lansa şi în Republica Moldova, de Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România". HotNews (in Romanian). 15 March 2021.
  12. ^ "Propunerea instituirii Zilei Unirii Basarabiei cu România a fost respinsă". Radio Europa Liberă Moldova (in Romanian). 4 March 2020.
  13. ^ "100 de ani de la unirea Basarabiei cu România. Manifestație de amploare la Chișinău". Digi24 (in Romanian). 25 March 2018.
  14. ^ "Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România – 27 martie – sărbătorită pe ambele maluri ale Prutului" (in Romanian). Romanian Cultural Institute. 26 March 2017.
  15. ^ Modiga, Iulia (28 March 2017). "(FOTO) Ziua Unirii Basarabiei cu România, sărbătorită la liceul românesc din Tiraspol". InfoPrut (in Romanian).