CHIŞINĂU (Imedia) - Separatist authorities in Transnistria have threatened to shut down the Alexandru cel Bun high school in Tighina (Bender), which is located on territory controlled by breakaway authorities but is under the subordination of Chisinau. Transnistrians have said the high school has violated health codes.

Promo Lex, an NGO that defends human rights in the region, said in an April 15 statement that „on March 31, 2010, the hygiene and epidemiology center in Tighina /.../ released a notice to the high school /.../ threatening to shut down the school after April 15, 2010 because some health codes have been allegedly violated."

„The notice was signed by chief doctor D.G.Chirsta, who threatened the high school's administration that he would make the use of the building illegal. Along with health code problems, the so-called authority has claimed that the school's curriculum does not correspond with the one on the left shore of the Nistru [Imedia: a common name for Transnistria]. Starting on April 4, 2010, the same hygiene and epidemiology center, along with Transnistrian border guards, banned the delivery of food products to the high school, as well as necessary products for the daily and obligatory meals that the students receive.

As a result, the school will soon have no food, and the situation in the institution could become critical, especially around exam time. We cannot exclude the possibility of the regional authorities escalating the situation by creating conditions similar to the ones in 2004, when educational institutions in the Transnistrian region that were under Chisinau's jurisdiction were evacuated and when their activity was ceased illegally," the NGO adds.

Promo-Lex emphasizes that „this situation occurs as first-grade students are being registered."

„We think these actions are intentional and are meant as a provocation, with a main goal - to reduce the number of children in these educational institutions," the NGO concludes.

The incident in Tighina appeared only a few days after the arrest of Transnistrian journalist Ernest Vardanean, who was detained on April 7 and accused of espionage and high treason.

Commentary:

Victor Chirila: Such situations have happened in the past, when there was fragile progress in the regulation of the Transnistrian issue

Victor Chirila, executive director of the Foreign Policy Association, thinks that „such situations have happened in the past, when there was fragile progress in the regulation of the Transnistrian issue because all sorts of unpredictable situations would appear that would then lead to a worsening of ties between Chisinau and Tiraspol."

„The same thing is happening right now. In the last few months, beginning in the fall of last year, a lot of positive things have been achieved, especially at Chisinau's initiative. For example, talks in the 5+2 format have been resumed; three unofficial meetings have occurred, two in Vienna and one in Tiraspol; contacts between Tiraspol and Chisinau at the level of deputy P.M. Victor Osipov and Tiraspol's special diplomatic representative Vladimir Iastrebceak have been resumed; expert groups have met six times, and so on. Moreover, at Chisinau's initiative, the E.U. has issued a six-month suspension of travel restrictions on Tiraspol leaders.

All of these things have certainly been meant to create an atmosphere of trust that would foster deeper political dialogue about sensitive problems like the future status of the Transnistrian region.

But some forces in Tiraspol do not seem very happy about these evolutions and they probably want to sink these fragile progresses by creating some artificial problems that ultimately show that the democratic realities in Transnistria are far from European standards, and that fundamental human rights and liberties are clearly broken in this region," Mr. Chirila adds.

He stresses that „these new problems between Chisinau and Tiraspol are tied to the internal evolutions in Transnistria."

„The group of Tiraspol leader Igor Smirnov lost the March local elections in Transnistria because the people there are certainly unhappy with the economic and social policies promoted by Smirnov and his regime in the region. In addition, civil society in the region, although it is fragile, is beginning to play some role in public debates and to have an impact on public opinion in Transnistria.

These local elections were a sort of practice for legislative elections that will take place in Transnistria at the end of this year. That is why I believe that Ernest Vardanean's arrest and the problems surrounding Alexandru cel Bun should be seen in this context. I am assuming that the Tiraspol regime is trying to shape public opinion that is favorable to the policies that it promotes and, at the same time, to distract people from the real problems in the region and to intimidate potential critics of the regime," Mr. Chirila concludes. 

Vlad Lupan: We must not forget that Transnistria had local elections in March and will have more at the end of the year

Vlad Lupan  an independent expert, says that „there are some traditional elements that determine the occasional appearance of tensions in ties between Chisinau and Tiraspol."

„Ernest Vardanean's arrest and the high school issue are part of this set of actions that the Tiraspol administration has been engaging in to control the press and to block the activity of schools subordinated to Chisinau because they represent educational institutions that go against the ideology of the Tiraspol regime. In addition, we must not forget that Transnistria had local elections in March and will have more at the end of the year. Igor Smirnov probably wants to prove that he has control of the situation in the region. At the same time, I think that any issue that the Transnistrian authorities turn into a problem becomes a means of pressuring Chisinau because Chisinau will inevitably have to react instead of being the first to act. So Tiraspol is keeping the possibility of influencing the situation.

Last, but not least, we have to remember that, recently, there have been a series of meetings at the international level. Ukraine and Russia are planning on signing a common statement about the Transnistrian conflict, and deputy P.M. Victor Osipov is on a Brussels and Washington tour, which places more burdens on Igor Smirnov, including attention that focuses on him during the elections and in the general context of solving the Transnistrian conflict," Mr. Lupan notes.

The analyst believes that no matter what Chisinau did, „the Tiraspol administration would have used the element of schools subordinated to Chisinau and other problems to keep control on the population there."

File:

Transnistria is host to eight schools that teach Romanian, which are subordinated to Chisinau.

In the summer of 2004, the Tiraspol administration shut them down because they did not have an activity license.

The decision led to a huge scandal and determined parents and students to protest for weeks and ask for the schools to be reopened.

While the schools were closed, the students had to take courses in educational institutions in neighboring villages located on territory controlled by Chisinau.

Later, the eight schools managed to obtain a license from the Tiraspol administration, but their situation continues to be difficult, especially because they do not have their own headquarters and have to rent them from various organizations or companies.