The Comrat Republic ( gag, Κομράτ Ρεσπυβλικάσι, italics=no, ; ro, Republica de la Comrat; russian: Комратская республика, Komratskaya respublika) was an

autonomous republic An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or Federated state, state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located wi ...

established in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Comrat Comrat ( ro, Comrat, ; gag, Komrat, Russian and bg, Комрат, Komrat) is a city and municipality in Moldova and the capital of the autonomous region of Gagauzia. It is located in the south of the country, on the Ialpug River. In 2014, Com ...

, in the

Bessarabia Governorate The Bessarabia Governorate (, ) was a part of the Russian Empire from 1812 to 1917. Initially known as Bessarabia Oblast (Бессарабская область, ''Bessarabskaya oblast'') as well as, following 1871, a governorate, it included ...

, in protest of the

tsarist Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...

regime of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...

. It was created after a mutiny by Andrey Galatsan, a

socialist revolutionary The Socialist Revolutionary Party, or the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries (the SRs, , or Esers, russian: эсеры, translit=esery, label=none; russian: Партия социалистов-революционеров, ), was a major politi ...

, with the support of the local Gagauz population. It lasted six days (from 6 January to 12 January) and is today viewed positively in

Gagauzia Gagauzia or Gagauz-Yeri, or ; ro, Găgăuzia; russian: Гагаузия, Gagauziya officially the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia; ro, Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia, ''UTAG''; russian: Автономное территор ...

(now in

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The unrecognised state of Transnist ...

) as a premonition of the future Gagauz territorial autonomy.

History

In 1905, following the arrival of the

1905 Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...

, the

Gagauz people The Gagauz ( gag, Gagauzlar) are a Turkic people living mostly in southern Moldova ( Gagauzia, Taraclia District, Basarabeasca District) and southwestern Ukraine ( Budjak). Gagauz are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. The term Gagauz is als ...

began to call for the abolition of

tsarism Tsarist autocracy (russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. ''tsarskoye samoderzhaviye''), also called Tsarism, was a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow and its successor states th ...

in the

. Thus, Andrey Galatsan, a student at the

Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute The National Technical University "Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute" (NTU "KhPI") ( uk, Національний технічний університет "Харківський політехнічний інститут"), in the city of Kha ...

and a

revolutionary socialist Revolutionary socialism is a political philosophy, doctrine, and tradition within socialism that stresses the idea that a social revolution is necessary to bring about structural changes in society. More specifically, it is the view that revoluti ...

, created a clandestine organization in the

, with a Gagauz ethnic majority. Galatsan began to urge the Gagauz

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

population to join his fight for

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical th ...

. Protests by them began, and they started demanding to stop the recruitment of Gagauz people into the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, Romanization of Russian, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the earl ...

, education in the

Gagauz language Gagauz (, ) is a Turkic language spoken by the Gagauz people of Moldova, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey and it is an official language of the Autonomous Region of Gagauzia in Moldova. Gagauz belongs to the Oghuz branch of Turkic languages, alongs ...

, free

medical care Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health pr ...

and others. During this period, the idea of Gagauz territorial autonomy began to be considered for the first time. On 6 January 1906, a demonstration began in Comrat that escalated into mutiny, with Galatsan's supporters overthrowing the local authorities and proclaiming the Comrat Republic. A committee under Galatsan's rule was established, and its first decisions were to repeal

taxes A tax is a compulsory financial charge or some other type of levy imposed on a taxpayer (an individual or legal entity) by a governmental organization in order to fund government spending and various public expenditures (regional, local, o ...

, cancel IOUs and perform a

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultur ...

. Later, on 10 January, a Russian

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sport ...

reported "Comrat, with a population of 10,000, is in the hands of the insurgents. Autonomy has been proclaimed. The authorities have been fired and arrested. The

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat ...

mounted infantry Mounted infantry were infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infant ...

) are unarmed". The flag of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, a

red flag Red flag may refer to: * Red flag (idiom), a metaphor for something signalling a problem ** Red flag warning, a term used by meteorologists ** Red flag (battle ensign), maritime flag signaling an intention to give battle with no quarter (fight to ...

with the Russian-language slogan ("Through struggle you will attain your rights") printed on it, was promoted as a central symbol of the republic. On 12 January, after six days, the rebellion was suppressed. Galatsan and several of his companions were tried for sedition and

deported Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people from a place or country. The term ''expulsion'' is often used as a synonym for deportation, though expulsion is more often used in the context of international law, while deportation ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part o ...

. During the times of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

, the Comrat Republic was presented as a

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

and

proletarian The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose only possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian. Marxist philo ...

movement but not as an

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

one. However, since the proclamation of the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, it has been regarded as a "sign" or "premonition", highlighting its socialist characteristics but especially the ethnic Gagauz ones. Today, one of the streets of Comrat is named after Galatsan.

Notes

References

{{Reflist, 30em History of Gagauzia Former republics Bendersky Uyezd Peasant revolts 1905 Russian Revolution States and territories established in 1906 States and territories disestablished in 1906 1906 establishments in the Russian Empire 1906 disestablishments in the Russian Empire

History

See also

Notes

References