The World - News from Oct. 2, 1989

The Communist Party in Moldavia has endorsed the idea of limited autonomy for the Gagauz, a small minority group seeking more control over its cultural and economic affairs, the news agency Tass said. The move by the party’s Central Committee was aimed at reducing one source of ethnic tension in the southwestern Soviet republic. The Gagauz are a tribe of Turkic-speaking Orthodox Christians numbering about 140,000 who live in 23 towns and villages in Moldavia, which borders on Romania. They have been demanding the creation of an autonomous republic within Moldavia that would give them greater control over their own economy and culture and provide for Gagauz-language schools.