The Moldovans choose Europe, the Turks opt for Erdogan and the democratically minded Russians can only act from exile
For the majority of Moldovans, Europe is the partner they want to come close to; meanwhile the majority of Turkish citizens feel quite the opposite.
Our country project and our goal is for Moldova to be a full member of the European family by 2030. This is not just my commitment. We have the support of the European Union on this road - this is what president of Moldova, Maia Sandu (photo above), said to thousands of her compatriots assembled in Chisinau on 21 May. Another ‘National Assembly’, as the event was hailed by the organizers to make a clear allusion towards key moments of modern Moldovan history, proved again that the way of European integration is considered by a bigger half of Moldovan citizens as the correct course in foreign policy of the country.
But external policy issues are not the only challenge that Maia Sandu’s administration faces: a lot is left to be done, if Moldova is to overcome the negative legacy of oligarchic rule. Cristian Bolotnicov of Agora.md discussed these questions with Cross-Border Talks’ Małgorzata and Vladimir.
There was no political breakthrough in the parliamentary elections in Turkey: the People’s Alliance, led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP party, came ahead of the National Alliance, or the big tent opposition coalition. Current economic troubles of Turkey, as well as anti-democratic moves aimed at the left-wing parties and the Kurdish minority, did not make Turkish people abandon Erdogan. Cross-Border Talks’ journalists asked Marian Karagyozov, political scientist specializing in the Balkans, to explain more.
The recollection of Vladimir Kavaldzhiev’s activities, realised by the Bulgarian-European Centre for Dialogue, and of the forgotten cultural relations between the two countries in the 1940s and 1950s demonstrates that links between people and artists from both countries can provide dynamism and new horizons in a world where the focus in international relations too often falls only on economics and security. Vladimir Mitev reports from Sofia, where the gallery at 6 Shipka Street houses an unusual exhibition.
Four DOXA magazine journalists spent a year under house arrest because of a video urging young Russians not to be afraid of peaceful protesting. Now Maria Menshikova, another author of the online magazine, faces a prison term or a fine for a post on Vkontakte. In a talk with Cross-Border Talks, she recalls how DOXA magazine changed from a student magazine to a space of struggle against dictatorship, inequalities and discrimination.