MOSCOW Hundreds of thousands of people, defying a Kremlinwarning against nationalist extremism, staged a daylong rally Sundayin the central square of the Moldavian capital, Kishinev, to demandthat Moldavian be made the republic's official language.
Nationalist activists in the Baltic republics of Estonia, Latviaand Lithuania declared, meanwhile, that they have no intention ofsoftening their demands for independence from Moscow, despite ascathing Communist Party statement Saturday accusing them of harmingthe "vital interests" of the Soviet Union. The statement by theparty's Central Committee was branded as an "imperial" interferencein Baltic affairs.
Soviet television's evening news program, "Vremya," reportingSunday on the Moldavian rally, noted without comment that those whojoined in the demonstration included extremists from the Baltics whosupported calls that Moldavia secede from the Soviet Union.
The Moldavian legislature is to consider a bill tomorrow thatwould make Moldavian the official language of the republic, in thesouthwest corner of the Soviet Union.
Up to 300,000 people gathered in Kishinev's Victory Square tocall for adoption of the law. Organizers said the rally endedpeacefully in the early evening.
On Sunday, an article in the Communist Party daily Pravdaaccused the Moldavian Popular Front, the organizers of Sunday'sgathering, of extremism.
"There are 300,000 people out there. How can they all beextremists?" responded Popular Front spokesman Yuri Roshka.
Like the Baltic republics, Moldavia was incorporated into theSoviet Union in accordance with a 1939 Soviet-German pact.Neighboring Romania was forced to surrender the region to the SovietUnion in 1940.
After its annexation, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered thatMoldavian, a dialect of the language spoken in Romania, be written inCyrillic rather than in the traditional Latin alphabet.
Moldavians make up 64 percent of the republic's 4.2 millionpeople but are outnumbered in many major cities, where Russian iswidely spoken.
Many of the republic's activists who want to make Moldavian theofficial language of the republic also have called on the localParliament to order a return to the Latin alphabet by 1995.
Ethnic Russians, who make up about 30 percent of the republic'spopulation, have been striking for the last week to express theiropposition to the proposed legislation, which they view asdiscriminatory.
The strikes in Moldavia, which have idled nearly 100 factoriesand stopped work at some railway stations, mirrored a tactic used byethnic Russians in the Baltic republic of Estonia.
There, non-Estonians opposed a voting law that required aminimum of two years' residency in a single district. The EstonianParliament, under pressure from Moscow, has agreed to reconsider thelaw this fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment