Moldova – national flag
The flag was officially introduced in 1990, when the coat of arms of the Romanian flag was reintroduced in 1989. The three colors of the flag represent the past, present and future and reflect the people’s historical traditions and democratic principles, equality before the law as well as friendship and solidarity with all the citizens of the republic. The coat of arms consists of coat of arms from the area’s historic provinces of Moldova and Wallachia.
- Countryaah: What does the flag of Moldova look like? Follow this link, then you will see the image in PNG format and flag meaning description about this country.
Moldova – history
According to a2zgov, present-day Moldova was the eastern part of the Principality of Moldova, until in 1812 the area between the rivers Prut and Dniester, Bessarabia, was conquered by Russia. Russia lost control of the area during the Crimean War, but after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, Bessarabia again became part of the Russian Empire. After the October Revolution of 1917, Bessarabia liberated itself as an independent principality in union with Romania. In an attempt to reclaim Bessarabia in 1924, the Soviet Union formed an autonomous Moldovan Soviet republic east of the Dniester, whose population, however, was only a third of Moldovan.
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In connection with the German-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact in 1939, Romania ceded northern Bukovina and Bessarabia to the Soviet Union. Northern Bukovina and southern Bessarabia were integrated into the Ukrainian SSR, while the rest of Bessarabia and the Moldovan ASSR were united in a Soviet republic, the Moldovan SSR, in August 1940. After World War II, many Moldovan peasants were deported; the area was hit by a catastrophic famine, while many Ukrainians and Russians moved to the cities. In the 1950’s, under the leadership of Leonid Brezhnev, the republic sought political, economic, and cultural integration into the Soviet Union.
From the 1960’s, a growing national consciousness could be traced in the Moldovan SSR, where the historical, linguistic and cultural kinship of the Romanians was emphasized. This trend continued in the 1970’s and especially in the 1980’s, when Soviet annexation and Sovietisation policies were also questioned. In 1988, a popular front was formed with demands for reforms, independent. In the 1990 election, the nationalist and pro- reform wing, and the reform communist Mircea Snegur, won(b. 1940) was elected president. Thereafter, a “moldovation process” began, which, however, also resulted in a reaction on the part of the significant non-Moldovan population. In August 1990, the Gagaus proclaimed their own republic around the city of Komrat, while Russians and Ukrainians in the area east of the Dniester the following month proclaimed an independent republic, the Dnieper Republic, around the city of Tiraspol. They were not recognized by the central government in Chişinău, which, however, even declared independence from the Soviet Union on 27 August 1991. Moldova has gradually established itself on a less nationalist policy and has found a modus vivendi with the non-Moldovan nationalities and as a member of the CIS emphasized an independent course in relation to both the immediate neighbors, Romania and Ukraine, as well as Russia. In 1996, another former reform communist, Petru Lucinschi (b. 1940), replaced Snegur as president, while a parliamentary election in March 1998 gave the Communists the largest share of the vote, without gaining an absolute majority. They got it in return in the parliamentary elections in 2001, which gave the Communist Party 71 of the 101 seats, after which the parliament elected the party leader, Vladimir Voronin(b. 1941), for president for four years. This made Moldova the first and so far (2006) only former Soviet republic where the Communists have come to power again. However, Voronin did not do anything about the country’s chronic poverty, and the problem with the Dniester Republic did not come close to a solution either. However, the opposition was divided and the Communists also won the parliamentary elections in 2005, but had to have the support of members of the opposition to get Voronin re-elected. In his second term, Voronin would focus on improving the social and economic situation, democratizing society, resolving the conflict around the Republic of Dniester and seeking European integration. However, the country remains Europe’s poorest country and corruption is widespread. Moldova is covered by the EU Neighborhood Policy, and in 2005 an action plan for the country was launched with a view to approximating EU rules and policy objectives. The EU also participates The OSCE, the United States, Russia and Ukraine in their efforts to mediate between Moldova and the Dniester Republic. Russia’s de facto recognition of the breakaway region strained relations with Moldova, and relations between the two countries cooled further in 2006, when disagreements arose over the price of gas supplies from Russian gas company Gazprom and Russia stopped importing Moldovan wine. Relations with neighboring Romania have been strained since the early 1990’s. As a neutral country, Moldova will not seek membership of NATO, whose Partnership for Peace Cooperation has participated in since 1994, but in its second term, President Voronin has set closer cooperation with NATO as a key foreign policy goal. Moldova is a member of GUAM collaboration and helped breathe new life into it in 2006.