Moldova's government has moved to quell a simmering
separatist rebellion today by beginning a legal case against leaders of a Turkic-speaking minority.
The separatist Gagauz minority wants autonomy from ex-Soviet state and has its own leader, Mr Dmitry Croitor, who earlier this year had faced a referendum on his rule but said it was unlawful. Moldova says he broke the law by stopping the referendum.
"The criminal case has been brought according to the criminal code against . . . the abuse of power," Moldova's state prosecutor said in remarks published in the state press.
Moldova's Communist-led government, under threat from almost daily protests by nationalists and unable to solve a dispute with the breakaway Russian-speaking Dnestr region to the east, says it is trying to stamp out corruption in the tiny country.
But analysts said the government's legal move against leaders of the separatist Turkic-speaking Gagauz minority, which comprises about 3.5 per cent of 4.3 million population, was the start of a policy to shore up opposition to dissent in Moldova.
Hundreds of demonstrators took to the streets in Komrat, the administrative centre of the southern separatist region, to protest against the legal case.