Soviet Moldova Imposes State of Emergency Over Ethnic Unrest

The Parliament of Moldova on Friday imposed a state of emergency in the divided Soviet republic’s southern region to block attempts by a small ethnic group, the Turkic-speaking Gagauzi, to hold elections for their own breakaway state.

As Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev left Moscow on a state visit to Spain, official media and residents of Moldova reported a dramatic increase in tensions in the largely agricultural land between the Ukraine and Romania, officially known as Moldavia until last summer.

The Interfax news agency said army paratroopers had been moved to the town of Komrat, in the Gagauz area. Moldova’s president, Mirca Snegur, accused the military of violating a pledge of non-interference that he said he obtained from Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov. The units reportedly were withdrawn later.

As the Gagauzi, who make up about 3% of Moldova’s 4.3 million people, began their unsanctioned elections, about 20,000 vigilantes answering calls to safeguard Moldova’s territorial integrity massed on the borders of the area that proclaimed its independence in August, Soviet television said.

The highly charged atmosphere was reminiscent of how other Soviet ethnic clashes in the Transcaucasus or Central Asia have begun. Tass, the official Soviet news agency, said Gorbachev telephoned Snegur before flying to Madrid to warn that “violence and confrontation are impermissible.”

To reassert its control over the “Gagauz Republic,” but also to forestall any bloodshed, Moldova’s Parliament met in extraordinary session and declared a two-month state of emergency in the Gagauz districts of Vulkaneshty, Komrat and Chadyr-Lunga. It also suspended the operations of government councils there.

A provisional committee, headed by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Sangeli, was ordered to enforce the state of emergency in the districts where more than 150,000 Gagauzi live.

The decree also bans public gatherings and restricts travel in and out of the Gagauz area, where polling began Thursday despite a request from Snegur that it be canceled.

Representatives of the minority acted after Moldova’s Parliament asserted the republic’s “sovereignty” from the Moscow-based national government in June. The Gagauzi, who charge that the nationalistic leadership of Moldova discriminates against them, are related ethnically to the Turks.

The Moldovans are related to their Romanian neighbors. Their land was forcibly annexed by the Kremlin from Romania in 1940.

Two weeks ago, Gorbachev issued an appeal for calm in Moldova, which has become an example of how ethnic divisiveness threatens his attempts to keep the Soviet Union together.