The Gagauzi language (Gagauz dili) is the language spoken by the Gagauz people. It belongs to Turkic languages, and closest to it are Turkish and Azerbaijanian. In total, about 180,000 Gagauz speakers live in the world, most of them in Gagauz Autonomy. There are two main dialects in Moldova – Čadır-Comrat and Vulcanesti. It is the Čadır-Comrat dialect that the modern literary Gagauz language is based on. Gagauz language gained its written form only in 1957, first in Cyrillic and in 1996 in Latin. Contrary to popular belief that the Gagauz language is under threat of extinction, it has only been developing during the last hundred years. Books and poems are written in it, poets compose lyrics to songs, however there is certain danger of extinction as children and young people are gradually switching to other languages and leave their native land. People of art, painters and writers preserve the culture with their works and prevent it from going into oblivion.
George Topal is a poet who writes in Russian and Gagauz languages, renowned not only in Gagauzia, but also beyond. During the years of his creative activity, he published several collections of poems, co-authored with another Gagauz poet Ivan Milev: ‘Light of Heaven’ in 2016 and; ‘Desire of the Soul’ in 2020. His talent was also noticed abroad, several times he was nominated for the Russian awards: ‘Poet of the Year 2016’ and ‘Heritage 2017’ in 2018. He also participated in an anthology of Russian literature. Ten of his poems were published in ‘The Russian Poetry Anthology, 2018’. He is the author of the anthem of Vulcanesti town.
George Topal was born on May 6, 1980 in Vulcanesti. Music and poetry fascinated him since childhood – he attended music school, the accordion class. After school, he entered Comrat Teacher Training College. The first poems dedicated to his native land appeared during his studies in college. He was inspired by the nature of Budjak, its steppe and flat landscapes. He was so inspired that he began to write a lot. And it would have remained unnoticed if at one point his teacher, Maria Fyodorovna, had not paid attention to his works. In 1995, she was one of the editors of the ‘Gagauzia News’ newspaper and published his poem there. His friends gave very inspiring comments, and George began to write more often.
George danced in his college dance group and in 1997 they went to Turkey for a large festival of Turkic peoples. This became the turning point; he really began to love Turkey and went to Istanbul to live and to work there. In Istanbul, his poetry changed. It was filled with grief, loneliness and longing for his homeland. A local newspaper Panorama began to publish his works. There was a special page there dedicated to local authors – poets and writers. This newspaper allocated a whole page to him to present his works. The number of publications only grew. His poetry was published in Turkish publications as well. But in spite of this success, he began to think more and more often about returning home.
You can be among crowds, meet new people every day, new gatherings, new interests. But still, there is vacuum in your soul and you can fill it only by your home, relatives, beloved ones, friends.
george topal
“This longing for my homeland… I couldn’t stay there anymore. I felt loneliness everywhere-one can feel it even in the largest city. Although there are so many people around you, you are alone. You feel this loneliness because you are not at home. You can be among crowds, meet new people every day, new gatherings, new interests. But still, there is vacuum in your soul and you can fill it only by your home, relatives, beloved ones, friends. It’s worth a lot.
What did I dream about in Istanbul? About home and parents. I was very attached to my native land, and these first poems were about my land, my mother and father. My first love also remained here. It was a break from everything native, from everything that kept me, and I suffered a lot. Some young people manage to get torn away, they fly as a leaf and they manage to settle where this leaf lands.
When I returned from Turkey, I started farming here. When you grow something yourself, you produce something, you begin to understand how valuable it is to feel the land, to feel its energy. I had some savings, so I purchased a minibus, and began to work at home. First with my parents, then I got married. I have a wonderful spouse Olesya, then my daughter, Mashenka, was born.
Then I began to study the Holy Scripture, the Bible and I began to feel presence of God in everything. It is like a miracle when a wonderful plant grows from one small seed that gets into the fruitful soil. I began to wonder how it can happen just by itself. I gradually studied the Word of God and I came to the conclusion that there is God, the Creator and that a person needs some foundation in this world, not only physical, but also spiritual. I came to God. I began to write poems on spiritual, religious topics. In fact, it was an outburst in my creative activity.
But not everyone thinks about spirituality and belonging to their roots. Lack of fund, globalization force people to leave their homes. This is a very acute problem in our Gagauzia, as in the whole of Moldova. Young, active, hardworking people leave the country. These are the people who could have made some kind of contribution in their country. Lack of faith only aggravates the situation. People do not believe that they can feed themselves and their family. They don’t see any future for themselves in their homeland.
Bujak is our historical homeland, but it in the past it was Dobruja. Our ancestors came from Bulgaria, from Dobruja. Part of which remained in the territory of Romania, and another part in Bulgaria. Varna, until the early 19th century, was home for about 80-85% of Gagauz. It was the capital of the Dobrujan Despotate. Surprisingly, people there do not practically identify themselves as Gagauz nowadays. They can even have Gagauz surnames in their IDs, but they already identify themselves as Bulgarians. And the language is no longer spoken there. Young people very rarely speak Gagauz language.
In Budjak people were of a more revolutionary spirit. They were able to unite.150 thousand are not 10-20 thousand, which are scattered all over different locations. Indeed, it was a certain unifying force that could organize people together and to raise national spirit. Our poets and writers united. There was a special movement- Gagauz Halky.
In 1957, during the USSR, already 64 years ago, Gagauz people got their written language. Gagauz language began to be taught at schools, but it lasted for only a few years, after which it was stopped for some unknown reasons. Our founding fathers saw that there was no development of the Gagauz language. Gagauz people were being assimilated with Russians, Moldovans and Ukrainians. They were adopting their customs and culture. Gagauz were losing their identity. All this encouraged us to unite“.
And what distinguishes Gagauz from other ethnic groups? First and foremost, this our unique and beautiful Gagauz language.
george topal
“We are not numerous, but at all times Gagauz kept together. They used to seize the moment to get united around some idea or some threat. This used to hold us together as a nation and we felt the support of each other. And what distinguishes Gagauz from other ethnic groups? First and foremost, it is their language. Unique, beautiful Gagauz language. Yes, we may still remain Gagauz for some time, without Gagauz language, but we would no longer be true Gagauz. Gagauz who does not speak his own mother tongue is not a true Gagauz. Only those who speak their language, can be called true Gagauz. Can a Moldovan who does not speak Moldovan language consider himself Moldovan in the full sense of the word?
In general, our people are very gifted. We have opera singers, scholars, and writers who write prose on historical topics. We also have poets. Recently Maria Georgievna Keosya who writes novels and has published a beautiful book in the Gagauz language- ‘Bazbey Tamysly’. Older people still preserve somehow their Gagauz identity. But younger people seldom use the Gagauz language. More often they use Russian language, they write lyrics to modern songs in it. Gagauz language is a rarity in art”.
Knowledge of several languages develops personality, widens human horizons and a person is only enriched. Knowledge of languages provides new possibilities.
george topal
“Knowledge of several languages develops personality, widens human horizons and a person is only enriched. Knowledge of languages provides new possibilities. If a person knows the Gagauz language, that is part of the Turkic language group, he can communicate with more than 300 million people around the world. The Gagauz people should also know the state language, but state support is needed for that. We understand that without the state language we cannot move ahead and without it we will always be behind in the society of this state. We see that all important public materials are published in the Moldovan language. When applying to work for some positions, knowledge of the state language is required, even in Gagauzia. It’s very welcome and important. Russian language also plays an important role, it remains to be the language of communication. It is present in our daily life – films, television, printed press is nit it. Also, it is the language of teaching in the majority of schools.
We need to explain to our children, that multilinguism – is a wealth! It can be taught gradually, from kindergartens. There is no need to fundamentally break everything old, and bring something new. I think it is possible to teach Gagauz children both Gagauz and Moldovan languages. It will be difficult to teach adult generation, but if it is taught from childhood, then it is possible. Children are quick learners. In the case of my daughter I see that she can easily communicate in Gagauz after kindergarten. We speak Gagauz at home. She attends Moldovan school and speaks perfect Moldovan. We decided we should do it and are very happy about our decision. Because we understand that there is no future without the knowledge of the state language.”
Time seemed to have stopped in the local lore museum of Vulcanesti, where we recorded this interview. Exhibits showing what life was like in this place many years ago frozen in anticipation of the continuation of this fascinating story- it lasted more than an hour, without the slightest pause. In conclusion George returns to his poetry:
“Mostly I write poetry in the morning. I always wake up very early. I turn to God, pray, study the Word of God and after that poems come to me. These are wonderful moments. I feel grateful and in awe that these moments actually come. And then I write poems in one breath”.
