The Conflict at GRT Has Grown with the Appointment of the New SB

On April 10, Gagauz People’s Assembly President Vladimir Kîssa introduced the new members of the SB, recently appointed with the votes of the majority of People’s Assembly members. On the same day, the new members of the SB dismissed Piotr Vlah from the position of interim director of GRT, where he had been appointed at the end of February by former SB members. According to Igor Ianac, the chairman of the SB, in accordance with the local law, the editor-in-chief of the GRT television Natalia Jelezova was first appointed as interim executive director, but she refused the appointment. Next, the SB appointed the editor-in-chief of the GRT radio Galina Mariseva to this position, but she refused, too. Finally, the company’s engineer Iaroslav Bulgaru was appointed to this position.

The following day, April 11, the former interim director of GRT Piotr Vlah organized a protest in front of the GRT office against the decision of the new SB. Initially, he announced that GRT employees were on strike and that only radio would work in the coming days. Moreover, he did not rule out a hunger strike. He said that the company thus expressed its disagreement with the appointment of the new SB members. However, in the following days, GRT worked normally. Piotr Vlah announced that he had cancelled the strike because viewers asked them not to interrupt broadcasting. Protests continued on April 17, and they were attended by the Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah and by several members of the People’s Assembly.

Piotr Vlah told Media-Azi.md that, in his opinion, the People’s Assembly in Comrat should not have appointed new SB members as long as the court did not issue a judgment on the legality of the dissolution of the former SB. The first court hearing of this case is to take place on April 20, 2018. As a matter of fact, he answered Media-Azi questions on April 17 from the office telephone of GRT.
Piotr Vlah also said that he had been visited by representatives of the US diplomatic mission in connection with the situation at GRT.
The new SB Chairman Igor Ianac, who is also the head of the law department at the Comrat State University, told Media-Azi.md that SB members cannot currently exercise their duties in the office of GRT and that all their meetings are taking place in the building of the People’s Assembly. He said he would address law enforcement in connection with this case.

Broadcasting Coordinating Council (BCC) Chairman Dragoș Vicol expressed concern at the BCC meeting of April 17 about the tensions at GRT. He appealed to local public authorities not to interfere with political issues into the work of the Supervisory Board and asked all stakeholders to comply with legal requirements.

The Bashkan of Gagauzia Irina Vlah issued an appeal on her personal page in Facebook to all parties to give up actions that might “destabilize the public and political situation in the Gagauz autonomy.” She wrote that the attempts to “seize” the company discredit Gagauzia in front of the international and Moldovan society and might affect the aid that Turkey and Russia might want to offer. The bashkan suggested both parties to take a break and to wait for the decision of the court in Comrat.

Source of photo: screenshot from a video on gagauzinfo.md