within the
Bessarabia Governorate, where
Comrat was located in 1906 In 1905, following the arrival of the
1905 Russian Revolution, the
Gagauz people began to call for the abolition of
tsarism in the
Russian Empire. Thus,
Andrey Galatsan, a student at the
Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute and a
revolutionary socialist, created a clandestine organization in the
village of
Comrat, with a Gagauz ethnic majority. Galatsan began to urge the Gagauz
peasant population to join his fight for
rights. Protests by them began, and they started demanding to stop the recruitment of Gagauz people into the
Imperial Russian Army, education in the
Gagauz language, free
medical care and others. During this period, the idea of Gagauz territorial
autonomy began to be considered for the first time. On 6 January 1906, a demonstration began in Comrat that escalated into
mutiny, with Galatsan's supporters overthrowing the local authorities and proclaiming the Comrat Republic. On 12 January, after six days, the rebellion was suppressed. Galatsan and several of his companions were tried for
sedition and
deported to
Siberia. Today, one of the streets of Comrat is named after Galatsan. ==See also==