Bessarabia, Romanian land

"Bessarabia, Romanian land" (Romanian: Basarabia, pământ românesc), "Bessarabia is Romanian land" (Basarabia e pământ românesc) or "Bessarabia is Romania" (Basarabia e România, also Basarabia este România[1]) is a popular and commonly used[2][3][4][5][6] Romanian nationalist and irredentist slogan posing claims over the geographical region of Bessarabia, today divided between the Republic of Moldova and parts of Ukraine.

[7] The slogan has been often used in demonstrations and events supporting the unification of Moldova and Romania.

[12][13] The phrase has had several notable uses at various times, such as at a protest organized by the Romanian political party Noua Dreaptă ("New Right") against the Bucharest Pride edition of May 2010,[14] in a huge banner during a football match between France and Romania on 5 September 2010 in the Stade de France[15] and for vandalizing a synagogue in Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, along antisemitic and Nazi symbolry.

[19] Romanian historian Lucian Boia has shown himself against the use of the phrase, saying that, in his opinion, it is not appropriate to say that "Bessarabia is Romania" because Moldova "has its own history and its own challenges" and because, at the time of his declarations, most Moldovans preferred to remain independent rather than uniting with Romania as indicated by certain polls, although he admitted the similarities between the two countries.

[22] It has also been used for regions already part of Romania, such as Transylvania by the former Social Democratic Party (PSD) president Victor Ponta[23] and Dobruja for a contest organized for students by the County Council of Tulcea.