Dumitru or Dimitrie Gheorghe Topciu (, , ; September 2, 1888 – 1958) was a Romanian politician and agriculturalist of Bessarabian birth and Gagauz ethnicity. Originally a subject of the Russian Empire, he established his reputation as a lawyer and advocate of peasant welfare, also networking between the Bessarabian Gagauz, Romanians, and Bulgarians. He formed a Bulgarian–Gagauz caucus after the February Revolution, seeking representation inside the Russian Republic, and overall shunning Romanian nationalism. After his mandate in the Provisional Council of the Russian Republic was cut short by the October Revolution, he was sent to Sfatul Țării, which acted as a legislative body of the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Topciu was absent during its March 1918 vote on that polity's union with Romania; by his own testimony, he assisted the Romanian expeditionary force, in his other capacity as the provisional leader of Bender Uyezd. After escaping prosecution for his alleged smuggling activities along the Dniester, he settled in Tighina, entering Romanian politics as a member of the People's Party.
In interwar Greater Romania, Topciu became a proponent of Gagauz assimilation, embracing forms of Romanian nationalism which came to be ridiculed in the press; he was also outspoken in his resistance to Gagauz re-Turkification. In tandem, he was a leader of the Agricultural Syndicate in Tighina County, a champion of the winemakers' corporate interests, and simultaneously a temperance activist, who spoke out against the consumption of Bessarabian moonshine. He won his first mandate in the Assembly of Deputies after elections in 1926, being returned in 1931 as an affiliate of the Democratic Nationalist Party. Topciu served additional terms during which he veered from agrarianism to fascism, affiliating with the National Agrarians (1932), the National Christian Party (1935), and the Union of National Awareness (1939). Touring the Budjak subregion, he had a major contribution in canvassing Gagauz votes for Romania's far-right groups.
Topciu was finally recruited by King Carol II into his catch-all National Renaissance Front, which resulted in his peak political activity, as Undersecretary of State for Agriculture in the Gigurtu cabinet (1940). He supported Ion Antonescu's takeover of the country, as well as his alliance with the Axis powers. Having been chased out of Bessarabia by a Soviet invasion in 1940, he became an organizer of formal and informal efforts to assist his fellow refugees. Topciu managed to survive the establishment of a Romanian communist regime in 1948. He was harassed and had to pay a fine for his involvement with the black market, also serving a short sentence in Caransebeș Prison; he lived his final decade in obscurity, at his new home in Bucharest.
Biography Early life and Sfatul Topciu was born on September 2, 1888, among the Gagauz people in Tomai, Bessarabia GovernorateDuminică (2019), p. 312. See also Duminică (2013), p. 314 & (2017), pp. 529, 536; Măcriș, p. 139 (now in the Gagauz Autonomous Unit of Moldova). His patronymic was rendered in Romanian as Gheorghe (shortened to Gh.),"Campania electorală. La Tighina", in Cuvântul, November 22, 1933, p. 7"Informații. Condamnați pentru sabotaj", in Scînteia, December 15, 1948, p. 4 though some Russian records have Davydovich;Duminică (2019), p. 312 his political associate Gheorghe Cuza knew him primarily as Mitia (from the Russian pet name, Mitya).Duminică (2017), passim Topciu tied his Gagauz identity to Eastern Christianity rather than Turkishness, since, as he explained in a January 1937 speech, the Gagauz "never even passed through Asia Minor.""Corpurile legiuitoare. Ședințele de la 27 Ianuarie. Comunicări", in Universul, January 30, 1937, p. 6 After training as a lawyer at an unspecified university, he became an activist on behalf of the Bessarabian peasants and frequented the political circles of Kishinev (Chișinău).Duminică (2017), p. 529 & (2019), pp. 306, 312 Like the fellow Gagauz Pavel Guciujna, he was also sympathetic to the aspirations of Bessarabian Romanians—including their quest for autonomy inside the Russian Republic, after the February Revolution. He was acquainted with activist Gherman Pântea, who allegedly followed Topciu's advice when meeting with Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Russian Bolsheviks, in April 1917, to probe him about the far-left's views on the issue of national determination.Ion Constantin, Gherman Pântea între mit și realitate, p. 48. Bucharest: Editura Biblioteca Bucureștilor, 2010. ; Duminică (2013), pp. 314–315 & (2019), p. 306
Topciu also supported this autonomist agenda while attending the Congress of Bessarabian Co-operativists in late 1917.Măcriș, pp. 69–70 On September 3, 1917, he became chairman of the provisional council in Bender (Tighina) Uyezd.Duminică (2019), p. 300 He was assigned as a peasant delegate to the Provisional Council of the Republic in Petrograd on October 7, but lost his seat with the Bolshevik coup of November 7.Duminică (2013), pp. 309–310, 316 Topciu's political adversaries claimed to have uncovered evidence that he had come to oppose Romanian nationalism as embodied by the National Moldavian Party, forming, and presiding upon, a committee of the Bulgarians and Gagauz. A 1926 note in Cuvântul newspaper had it that Topciu, "a native Gagauz, belonged back in 1917 to a Bulgaro-Gagauz soviet that had been set up in southern Bessarabia to fend off the Moldavians."B., "'Aleșii' basarabeni", in Cuvântul, July 15, 1926, p. 1 In 1937, Dreptatea republished a manifesto used by Topciu in his campaign for the legislative election of October–November 1917, contesting a Bessarabian seat in the Russian Constituent Assembly. This document spoke about "the Moldavians" as engaged in an usurpation of Russian statehood and in a forced Romanianization of the Bessarabian province, comparing them to the Black Hundreds."Demascarea gogocuzismului anarhic. Cum a trădat țara în 1917 șeful gogocuzist dela Tighina, Dumitru Topciu. Manifestul incendiar al lui Topciu împotriva Unirii Basarabei", in Dreptatea, June 1, 1937, p. 3
Following a concurrent corporate election, the Gagauz-and-Bulgarians obtained five seats in the autonomous legislative council, Sfatul Țării, which subsequently became a parliament of the Chișinău-based Moldavian Democratic Republic. Topciu was among those elected by "a certain 'Bulgarian–Gagauz organization', which probably included smaller associations."Duminică (2019), pp. 291–292 Also elected at the time, Krste Misirkov initially specified that he himself represented a Bulgarian National Party in Bessarabia; historian Ivan Duminică reports that as many as 19 deputies, including Topciu, had full or partial Gagauz or Bulgarian ethnicity, though some, such as Nicolae Alexandri and Alexei Culeva, did not represent that ethnic bloc.Duminică (2019), pp. 292, 297 Among the Bulgarian-and-Gagauz deputies, Topciu and Anton Novakov were absent at the Sfatul session of March 27, 1918, in which the majority voted for union with Romania; their colleagues inside the Bulgarian–Gagauz organization abstained, while Bulgarian Ștefan Balmez voted against union. Ten years after the fact, both Novakov and Topciu explained that they were absent on official duty, to ensure provisions for the republican militia; this mission ran parallel with the Romanian military intervention in Bessarabia, with Topciu also acting as a liaison for the Romanian Land Forces in Tighina.Duminică (2019), pp. 300, 307
Topciu's mandate in Sfatul ended on May 18, 1918, when the Bulgarian-and-Gagauz delegation replaced him with another community member.Petru Cazacu, Moldova dintre Prut și Nistru, 1812—1918, p. 245. Iași: Viața Romînească, . His mandate in Bender Uyezd lasted to March 22, 1919, though he continued to live in Tighina to 1940.Duminică (2013), p. 315 & (2019), pp. 300, 306 As noted by politician and memoirist Constantin Argetoianu, around 1920 "my buddy Topciu" was involved in smuggling on either bank of the Dniester. At the time, the Romanian authorities had promised to exchange old rubles for lei, at a rate that was slightly advantageous for ruble holders. Topciu was allegedly captured while entering Romania with rubles he had procured in Soviet Ukraine.Argetoianu (1996), pp. 120–121 Argetoianu was serving as both Finance and Interior Minister, and as such claims to have "kept [him] out of jail, allowing him to build a glorious career as a patriotic nationalist."Argetoianu (1996), p. 121 In the early 1920s, Topciu joined the local Chamber of Agricultural Credit as administrator-delegate, alongside his Sfatul colleagues Balmez and Gheorghi Cara.Duminică (2019), pp. 307–308 Topciu was eventually recruited by Alexandru Averescu's People's Party (PP).Duminică (2017), pp. 528–529, 536 He headlined its Assembly of Deputies list for the legislative election of March 1922 in Tighina, with Bulgarians Nicolae Petrov and Iacov Cunev as the runners-up.Duminică (2017), p. 536
Romanian agrarianism Topciu's sympathy toward Romanian nationalism was made explicit after 1926, when he became a contributor to Onisifor Ghibu's magazine, România Nouă.Măcriș, p. 70 A February 1934 article by Ion Dimitrescu suggests that his political colleagues were much amused by his continued inability to speak proper Romanian—his "highly original" phonetics and his "boorish accent that's not yet fully polished" ().Ion Dimitrescu, "Parlamentul a început discuția validărilor. Camera. Preludiu și uvertură la simfonia Destinderii", in Curentul, February 7, 1934, p. 7 The same point was raised by parliamentary reporter C. Balș, who commented that Topciu was "still not reconciled with [Romanian] grammar".C. Balș, "Satul. Buletin parlamentar", in Românul. Organ al Tineretului Național-Liberal, Issues 46–47/1934, p. 5 As Topciu's political rival, Virgil Madgearu once confronted him about his linguistic incompetence, to which Topciu replied (noting Madgearu's own non-Romanian origin): "I speak Gagauz, and you speak Aromanian , everyone speaks as best they can."Duminică (2013), p. 310
Topciu maintained his political profile as the old Uyezd was transformed into a Tighina County, serving as leader of the PP's county lodge. In this capacity, he supported an alliance with the National Liberals for the August 1925 elections to the agricultural chambers—in contrast to other PP militants in Bessarabia, including his Gagauz colleague Guciujna.Fagur, "Campania pentru alegerile Camerelor agricole. Acordul averescano liberal din Basarabia nu s'a încheiat nici la Bălți, Soroca și Cahul", in Adevărul, August 16, 1925, p. 3 Topciu himself was sent to the Assembly after elections in May–June 1926, in what Cuvântul labeled as a surprising victory—"Romanians are astonished, while foreigners poke fun; as well they should." He came in first of four PP deputies for that county, with Vladimir Chiorescu, Ion M. Leon, and Nicolae Stoianoglo holding the other three seats, and with Madgearu of the opposition Peasants' Party taking a remaining fifth seat."Noul Parlament. Lisa nouilor deputați", in Dimineața, May 31, 1926, p. 5 Topciu earned more attention and ridicule from Cuvântul journalists in July, when he took the rostrum to declare that: "It was I who united Bessarabia with Romania!"C. Nestor, "Cine a făcut unirea Basarabiei", in Cuvântul, July 5, 1926, p. 1 Also then, Topciu openly accused Madgearu's Peasants' Party of shielding the illegal Communist Party and Soviet "terrorists", and of recruiting at least one Gagauz who had spied for the Central Powers.Rep., "Acțiunea periculoasă a țărăniștilor în Basarabia. Se insultă magistratura și autoritățile statului, apărându-se, în schimb, elementele periculoase țării", in Îndreptarea, July 2, 1926, p. 3