Gagauzia

Gagauzia (Gagauz: Gagauziya or Gagauz Yeri; Romanian: Găgăuzia; Russian: Гагаузия), formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia (Gagauz Yeri) (Gagauz: Avtonom Territorial Bölümlüü Gagauz Yeri, Romanian: Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia, Russian: Автономное территориальное образование Гагаузия / Avtonomnoe territorial'noe obrazovanie Gagauziya), is an autonomous region of Moldova. Its name derives from the word "Gagauz", wh... more

Gagauzia (Gagauz: Gagauziya or Gagauz Yeri; Romanian: Găgăuzia; Russian: Гагаузия), formally known as the Autonomous Territorial Unit of Găgăuzia (Gagauz Yeri) (Gagauz: Avtonom Territorial Bölümlüü Gagauz Yeri, Romanian: Unitatea Teritorială Autonomă Găgăuzia, Russian: Автономное территориальное образование Гагаузия / Avtonomnoe territorial'noe obrazovanie Gagauziya), is an autonomous region of Moldova. Its name derives from the word "Gagauz", which in turn derived from the name Gok-oguz used to describe descendants of the Turkic Oghuz tribe. Crimean Tatars and Uyghurs used gok to mean "sky" or "sky blue", so Gok-oguz literally meant "sky-blue Oghuz". The Gagauz people descend from the Seljuk Turks that settled in Dobruja, together with the Pechenegs, Uz (Oghuz) and Cuman (Kipchak) people that followed the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan Izzeddin Keykavus II (1236–76). More specifically, one clan of Oghuz Turks migrated to the Balkans during the inter-tribal conflicts with other Turks. This... less