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Oleg Serebrian, leader of the Social-Liberals in Moldova: "90% of Transnistrians would vote for independence."

CHISINAU (Tiraspol Times) - In an interview reported by the International Crisis Group, Moldovan parliamentarian and former spokesman for Moldova's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Oleg Serebrian, admits that the independence of Pridnestrovie - also known as Transnistria - is a genuinely held wish by the vast majority of its population ... and that in an independence referendum, 90 percent of the population would cast their votes in favor of independence.

Oleg Serebrian is the leader of Moldova's Social Liberals, a pro-European party which opposes the Communist ruled government of President Vladimir Voronin. At the last elections, 6 March 2005, the Social Liberal Party (Partidul Social Liberal), was part of the Electoral Bloc Democratic Moldova which won 28.4 % of the popular vote and 34 out of 101 seats.

As a rule, ethnic Moldovans who live in Pridnestrovie don't support unification with Moldova either. According to the latest census data, 32% of the population of Pridnestrovie is made up of ethnic Moldovans. If Oleg Serebrians prediction is true, that means that, at most, 1 out of 3 want to join the "mother land." Even among ethnic Moldovans, the loyalty to an independent Pridnestrovie comes first and -- having fought off Moldova in a 1992 war with an estimated 1000 lives lost - they can not imagine giving up their country's de facto independence to become part of a country which has treated them with alternative periods of hot wars, cold wars and propaganda wars for the past 16 years since Pridnestrovie's 2 September 1990 declaration of independence.

Even ethnic Moldovans want independence, too

Several prominent political figures and independence leaders in Pridnestrovie are ethnic Moldovans, starting with one of the founding fathers of the republic, former parliamentary speaker Grigory Marakutsa. Even as part of the Moldovan minority, they, too, can not imagine any future for the country as part of Moldova and are strongly in favor of the recognition of independent statehood for Pridnestrovie.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), wrote in an assessment report [1] that the people of Pridnestrovie are unique and different in almost every way, separate from Moldova. A UN-report talks about the two countries' "very different historical past", while the OSCE-mission recognizes the "distinct feeling" of Pridnestrovie's separate "identity going beyond ethnic lines."

According to the OSCE, even ethnic Moldovans prefer Pridnestrovie and do not consider themselves part of Moldova. They feel like they belong in Pridnestrovie, not in Moldova. OSCE commented on this in a separate briefing, writing that "in the assessment of the OSCE Mission, there is a distinct feeling of “Transdniestrian” identity going beyond ethnic lines, justifying a special status for the area. Many ethnic Moldovans living on the left bank have an aversion against being governed directly from the centre, prefer to speak Russian, and do not consider themselves as “Bessarabians”.

Oleg Serebrian's analysis echoes the conclusions of the OSCE assessment, and takes it one step further by affirming that nine out of ten inhabitants are solidly in favor of independence and want nothing to do with Moldova in any form of common state.

Born in 1969, Oleg Serebrian is one of Moldova's youngest and most promising political leaders. He has a solid background in international affairs, with a degree in international relations from the European Institute of High International Studies in Nice, France, and post-graduate work done at Harvard, Edinburgh and Paris. In the late 1990's, he worked for his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also the author of several books on international affairs and foreign policy, the latest being "Dicţionar de geopolitică" (Geopolical Dictionary), a 340 page tome on international politics which has just been published simultaneously in Romania and Moldova.