Gîsca (meaning " hegoose" in

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

; russian: Гиска) is a village near in

Căușeni District Căușeni District ( ro, Raionul Căușeni, ) is a district in the central part of Moldova, with the administrative center at Căușeni. The other major city in the district is Căinari. According to the 2014 Moldovan Census, the population of the ...

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

, composed of a single village with the same name, population 4,841 at the 2004 Census. The locality, although situated on the right (western) bank of the river

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

, immediately to the south-west of the city of Tighina (Bender), in the

Bessarabia Bessarabia (; Gagauz: ''Besarabiya''; Romanian: ''Basarabia''; Ukrainian: ''Бессара́бія'') is a historical region in Eastern Europe, bounded by the Dniester river on the east and the Prut river on the west. About two thirds of Be ...

n, not Transnistrian part of

, is under the control of the breakaway

Transnistria Transnistria, officially the Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic (PMR), is an unrecognised breakaway state that is internationally recognised as a part of Moldova. Transnistria controls most of the narrow strip of land between the Dniester riv ...

n authorities. The village is located around a creek named Gîrla, which flows into the

. The creek is small and not navigable, but it is the

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

of ducks and geese, which gave the name to the locality. The road south-west from the city of Tighina (Bender) follows into the Moldovan-controlled area immediately as the village of Gîsca ends, and the next village of Fîrlădeni starts. At the census organized by the Transnistrian authorities in 2004, there were 4,841 inhabitants in Gîsca, including 819 (16.91%) ethnic

Moldovans Moldovans, sometimes referred to as Moldavians ( ro, moldoveni , Moldovan Cyrillic: молдовень), are a Romance-speaking ethnic group and the largest ethnic group of the Republic of Moldova (75.1% of the population as of 2014) and a sign ...

, 2,956 (61.06%) ethnic

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

, 719 (14.85%) ethnic

Ukrainians Ukrainians ( uk, Українці, Ukraintsi, ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine. They are the seventh-largest nation in Europe. The native language of the Ukrainians is Ukrainian language, Ukrainian. The majority ...

, 168 (3.47%) ethnic

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely understo ...

, 91 (1.88%) ethnic

Gagauzians The Gagauz ( gag, Gagauzlar) are a Turkic people living mostly in southern Moldova (Gagauzia, Taraclia District, Basarabeasca District) and southwestern Ukraine (Budjak). Gagauz are mostly Eastern Orthodox Christians. The term Gagauz is also of ...

, 22 (0.45%) ethnic

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

, 8 (0.17%) ethnic

Belarusians , native_name_lang = be , pop = 9.5–10 million , image = , caption = , popplace = 7.99 million , region1 = , pop1 = 600,000–768,000 , region2 = , pop2 ...

, 7 (0.14%) ethnic

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, 0 to 16 (0.17%)

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

, 0 to 12 (0.12%)

Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Ce ...

, 0 to 5 (0.04%)

Gypsies The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...

, and 13 to 44 (0.60%) others and non-declared. In June 1992, during the War of Transnistria the village was the scene of alleged

human rights abuses Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hum ...

by Moldovans. According to a report of the Russian human rights organisation, "

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

", members of the local armed Transnistrian paramilitary unit were killed in this village during a gun-battle with Moldovan forces. The Moldovan troops were said to have been finishing off the wounded. At least three villagers were killed by stray bullets and fragments of shells. Two more villagers were beaten by Moldovan volunteers, mopping up the village. On several occasions unprovoked fire was opened at the houses of villagers (there were no victims).Memorial, Bender, Moldova
/ref>

References

Villages of Căușeni District Populated places under Transnistrian control Bessarabia Governorate {{Căuşeni-geo-stub