DISINFORMATION: There is a Moldovan language, different from the Romanian one

The former Socialist president of the Republic of Moldova, Igor Dodon, used the Romanian Language Day to resume false narratives regarding the existence of a Moldovan language and nation, distinct from the Romanian one.

NEWS: “On National Language Day, the president of PSRM, Igor Dodon, addressed a congratulatory message to the citizens of the Republic of Moldova. The fifth president of the country stressed that three key words represent our national identity: Moldova. Moldovans. Moldovan. The Socialist leader urged Moldovans to love their language, to be proud of their identity and “not to give in to fleeting trends”. “From our parents and by tradition we’ve inherited a Land, an identity, a religion and a language as beautiful and sweet as honey. I have always said and will continue to say that three keywords describe our national identity. Moldova. Moldovans. Moldovan. This is what tradition says, this is what the Constitution says, this is what our elders say, those who keep alive the history of this people. Let us be proud that we have our distinct and original identity - the Moldovan one. Let's love our language, the language of our parents and grandparents - the Moldovan language, the authentic language of the Moldovan state. And let's not give in to fleeting trends”, the message signed by the president of PSRM, Igor Dodon, reads.

NARRATIVES: 1. The population of the Republic of Moldova has a distinct and original identity - Moldovan (different from the Romanian one); 2. The Moldovan language is the authentic language of the Moldovan state.

CONTEXT: Romanian Language Day is celebrated in the Republic of Moldova on August 31. This holiday was adopted in 1990 and marks an important victory for the national rebirth movement that emerged in the late 1980s. After the Soviets tried to undermine the Romanian identity of the Moldovan population, including by imposing theories on the existence of the Moldovan language - in fact Romanian written in the Cyrillic alphabet - the key demands of the great popular assemblies included the return to the Romanian alphabet. On August 31, 1989, the Chisinau Soviet voted the laws on the official language and the return to the Latin alphabet. With the adoption of the respective legislation, since 1989, the Romanian language in Latin spelling has been used again in school and public administration. The Romanian language, as the official language, is also stipulated in the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Moldova, voted on August 27, 1991.

In the Constitution of the Republic of Moldova, voted in 1994, however, the Moldovan language is indicated as the official language, an issue that has caused dissent in society all these years and fueled the Moldovenist theories that came back into politics and the public space along with the parties formed by the old nomenklatura.  In 2013, the Constitutional Court ruled that the text of the Declaration of Independence, in which the Romanian language is stipulated, prevails over Article 13 of the Constitution, in which the phrase ‘Moldovan language’ is used. However, Parliament has not yet amended that article.

The PSRM leader Igor Dodon is known as a follower of the statist-Moldovenist trend. This theory has its roots in the Soviet period when they tried to build a Moldovan nation and an identity different from the Romanian one.

PURPOSE: Such messages and actions are launched by PSRM to promote the Moldovenist trend, to undermine Romanian identity in the Republic of Moldova and to fuel dissensions in society over this issue.

WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The narratives regarding a distinct Moldovan identity and language were promoted in the former Moldovan Soviet Socialist Republic, with the aim of erasing the Romanian identity of the population forcibly incorporated in the USSR. Those theses were resumed in the 1990s, after the declaration of independence, and speculated by the political class in order to stay in power.From a historical, cultural, traditional, and linguistic point of view, the population of the Republic of Moldova is part of the Romanian people, a fact recognized and proven by the academic community. This is also stipulated in the Declaration of Independence, the founding act of the state, which places the Republic of Moldova “in the historical and ethnic space of its national development” and speaks of the Romanian language as the official language. The Constitutional Court has also ruled that the Romanian language is the official language, as stipulated in the Declaration of Independence.

THE NARRATIVES BENEFIT PSRM, the Moldovenist camp