Abstract
In this paper, the linguistic policies of Transylvania in Romania and Bessarabia in the Republic of Moldova before and after the communist regime change were studied from a comparative perspective. Most of the inhabitants of Romania and the Republic of Moldova, which exist today as two independent countries, are of the same race, but they have remained divided due to long-term border changes that have occurred since modern times. In this process, conflicts gradually increase due to language policies for minority languages in both countries, especially during the communist period. Although both regions had similar situations of language conflict by ethnic minorities, Transylvania's Romanian language was the dominant language, and Bessarabian’s Romanian language remained a minority language in power, and these facts were reflected in the linguistic policy. Looking at the two regions from a comparative perspective, they were in opposite situations regarding minority language problems, but the factor that created the problem was homogeneous in that it was a “ethnic problem” that remained at the base of nationalism. In addition, the geopolitical influence of being located in the middle of a large hegemonic powers was a factor that strengthened this ethnic problem. This relationship was seen to be the same in the process of adjusting the language policy in different directions in the two regions starting from the regime change period. In this respect, the minority language policy of the two regions is a good example of the relationship between language and nationalism in contrast.
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