" The most accepted theory claims that the Gagauz are descendents of the Turkic Oğuz tribes who in the seventh century, together with the Huns, the Khazars, the Avars, the Petchenegs, and the Kumans, left the Altai mountains, today the borderland between the former Soviet Union and Mongolia. Across the steppes of Central Asia and the areas around the Caspian Sea they finally reached the plains south of the outflow of the Danube where they settled. According to this theory, when the Bulgarians under Boris I converted to Christianity in 864, the Gagauz followed their example."
"However, conflicts within the Gagauz group were a major obstacle to efforts to revitalize the language and the national culture. Some of the leading personalities tried to link up with their Turkish background while others stressed the Russian roots of the Gagauz culture and tried to strengthen ties between the Gagauz community and the Russian Federation. For obvious political reasons the Popular Front in the capital Chisinau supported the first wing and, in 1993, a Latin alphabet for the language was adopted, which had been drawn up in collaboration with Turkish language experts."
"The Gagauz language is closely related to Turkish. Approximately 80 percent of the vocabulary is about the same, but the language has been affected by the fact that the Gagauz are Christians. Via church language, Slavic elements have been introduced and Gagauz has also been influenced by its Romanian-speaking environment. One problem is that Gagauz has stagnated as a language and, so to speak, remained at an everyday level without words and expressions for modern phenomena. However, through its close relationship with Turkish, this problem can be remedied and Turkey has recently made teachers available for Gagauz schools.
Furthermore, Gagauz students are welcome at Turkish universities and, through a special exchange program, Turkish teachers and students play an active role at the university in Komrat. A Gagauz library has been financed with Turkish money as well as the shift from the Russian Cyrillic alphabet to the Latin alphabet. Also, the Turkish Ministry of Culture has published a series of books on Gagauz history and culture."
"There are probably also many Gagauz living in Turkey today. However, unlike the Turkic peoples of Central Asia, the Turkic minorities of the Balkans and the Muslims in Bosnia, the Gagauz cannot count on Turkish citizenship should they move to Turkey. The Act on Turkish Citizenship, based on jus sanguinis, clearly has a religious component. Blood ties are not enough and the religious factor thus plays a part even though Turkey is a secular state."
The Gagauz, a Christian Turkic people - Turkish Daily News Mar 17, 2006
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