Todur Zanet

Zanet was born as a Soviet citizen in Congaz, Moldavian SSR, which he jokingly refers to as "Europe's largest village"; his parents were peasants.

[4] In August 1988, at the height of the Perestroika liberalization, Zanet founded Ana Sözü, in an effort to resist the Russification of Gagauzia and standardize Latin spelling.

[6] During the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Zanet, "one of the most respected Gagauz men of culture",[7] wrote the original anthem of Gagauzia, officially adopted in July 1990[1] and later replaced by Colsa's Tarafım.

[9] Government sponsorship, and the fact that it was put out from the Moldovan capital, Chișinău, decreased its informative value, at a time when the Gagauz press was being criticized for its political uniformity.

[9] Zanet served as Ana Sözü's editor for most of its history, with a hiatus between 1994 and 1999; he has also founded Kırlangıç ("Swallow"), a literary magazine aimed at a young readership.

[12] He has also published, in 2010, an anthology of poetry and folklore, Gagauzluk: kultura, ruh, adetlär, used as a record of Gagauz in Turkology and comparative linguistics.

[7] He is also opposed to Formuzal's replacement, Irina Vlah, whom he accused of wishing to dominate local media through the Gagauz Radio Television, and of fostering Russophiles.

"[17] In 2010, Moldovan President Mihai Ghimpu inducted Zanet into the Order of Work Glory, citing his "merits in fostering literature, contribution to the affirmation of national spiritual values, and prolific activity in the press".

[7][20] A volume of Zanet's original poems came out in 2013 as Koorlaşmış Ateş ("Coiled Fire"), with Açlık Kurbanları published in Turkish and Azerbaijani versions.