{"id":443375,"date":"2017-02-02T21:42:53","date_gmt":"2017-02-02T21:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/?p=443375"},"modified":"2017-02-02T21:46:56","modified_gmt":"2017-02-02T21:46:56","slug":"moldova-president-igor-dodon-proposes-make-2-february-statehood-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moldova.org\/en\/moldova-president-igor-dodon-proposes-make-2-february-statehood-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Moldova President Igor Dodon proposes to make 2 February the Statehood Day"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> minute<\/span><\/span>

On February 2nd, the Moldovan President Igor Dodon proposed<\/a> to make the date of February 2nd the day of Statehood Day of Moldova.<\/p>\n

As a true Moldovenist, he argues that the date is important for the Moldovan statehood- on 2 February 1365, the Moldovan Principality was founded by Bogdan I. The historian Octavian \u021a\u00eecu commented for Agora.md<\/a> that the Statehood Day proposed by Dodon would be an aberration, because the origin of the Moldovan state is uncertain and because Romania is the true heir of the Moldovan principality resulting from the 1859 Union, while the current territory of Republic of Moldova was annexed by the Russian Empire.<\/p>\n

Dodon also awarded 5 public persons with the order of “Bogdan, the Founder”:<\/p>\n

Vladimir Curbet- Head master of the National Folk Dance Group “Joc”;<\/p>\n

Eva Gudumac- University professor, Doctor of Medicine, member of the Academy of Sciences of Moldova;<\/p>\n

Leonid Talmaci- Former Governor of the National Bank of Moldova, who was previously proposed by Dodon’s Socialists’ Party for another term;<\/p>\n

Valentin Beniuc- University professor, Doctor of Political Sciences, announced his support for\u00a0Dodon during the Presidential elections with other historians from association “Pro Moldova”;<\/p>\n

Viorel Mihail- writer, editor of “S\u0103pt\u0103m\u00eena” newspaper, praised Dodon during the Presidential campaign.<\/p>\n

The “Bogdan the Founder” order is the third most important order of Moldova and was instituted during the Communists’ Party rule between 2001 and 2009. Until recently, only the writer Ion Dru\u021b\u0103 and the head of the Moldovan Orthodox Church Vladimir received this order.<\/p>\n

President Dodon said that the awards for these persons are for exception merits in “developing and consolidating the statehood of the Republic of Moldova”<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Dodon is known for his policy of over-promoting Moldovan identity and statehood in contrast to the Romanian identity of most of Moldovans.<\/p>\n