Pages: 566-585

The author considers what is common and specific in identity and ethnic psychology of Moldovan Gagauzes in the view of unilateral, contradictory and politicized Turkic and Bulgarian hypotheses about their ethnic genesis. He focuses on new approaches to the study of Gagauz origin as promising and capable to overcome the unilateral nature of numerous hypotheses of their ethnic genesis. It is emphasized that worsening relations between the Moldovan Bulgarians and Gagauzes may bear some ethno-political and ethno-cultural consequences in the context of the existing problems of Moldovan state political identity.

Keywords: Identity, Ethnic Psychology, Bulgarian, Gagauz