What is "moldovenism"

Moldovenism is a political term used to refer to the support and promotion of the Moldovan identity and Moldovan culture. The term is used primarily by the opponents of such ideas.

Some of its supporters ascribe this identity to the medieval Principality of Moldavia. Others, in order to explain the current differences between Romanian-speaking inhabitants of the two banks of the Prut river, ascribe it to the long incorporation of Bessarabia in the Russian empire and the USSR. The opponents, on the contrary, claim that Moldovans and Romanians are a single ethnic group and that the Moldovan identity was artificially created by the Soviet Union.

Supporters of Moldovan identity contend that the people of Moldavia historically self-identified as "Moldavian" before the notion of "Romanian" became widespread. The belief that Romanians and Moldovans in Bessarabia and the Moldavian ASSR (MASSR) formed two separate ethnonational groups, speaking different languages and possessing separate historical and cultural traits was also endorsed by the Soviet Union.