Yurii Dimchoglo
Ukrainian public and political leader of Gagauz descent, the Honorary President of the OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival.
He was born on August 19, 1973, in the village of Tomai in Moldova, also part of Bessarabia. Like almost every inhabitant of this multinational region, he speaks several languages, including Gagauz, Ukrainian, Turkish, russian, Bulgarian, Romanian, and English.
Throughout his life, Yuri has been actively working for the benefit of his native land and Ukraine, taking an active part in state, public, and international projects. For example, from 2009 to 2013, he served as the secretary of the parliamentary group for interparliamentary relations between the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the Parliament of the Republic of Turkey of the 6th convocation. In 2013, he became a member of the Ukrainian part of the international organization Lower Danube Euroregion (which included Ukraine, Romania, and Moldova). In 2016, he joined the intergovernmental Ukrainian-Turkish working group on public-private partnerships and tourism.
In addition, he initiated a project to build a ferry crossing between Orlivka (Odesa region, Ukraine) and Isaccea (Romania) and open an international checkpoint. And in 2013–2015, he served as the General Director of Ferry Complex Orlivka LTD (Reniiskyi district, Odesa region, Ukraine).
From 2012 to 2020, he was a deputy of the Odesa Regional Council of the VI and VII convocations, and from 2015 to 2020, he was the Deputy Chairman of the Odesa Regional Council. Thereafter, in 2020–2022, Yurii worked as a staff adviser to the Head of the Odesa Regional State Administration, and in 2022–2023, he held the same position under the Head of the Odesa Regional Military Administration.
On December 1, 2017, Yurii received the III Grade Order of Merit for his significant personal contribution to the state-building, socio-economic, scientific, technical, cultural, and educational development of Ukraine, significant labor achievements, and many years of conscientious work. In 2017, he also became the co-author of a unique 750-page book, “The History of the Gagauz People of Ukraine.”
In June 2018, four national and cultural Gagauz public organizations in Ukraine elected him as the chairman of the Association of Gagauz Societies of Ukraine.
As a big fan of cinema and an ardent patriot of his native land, Yurii Dimchoglo became the honorary president of the first OKO International Ethnographic Film Festival in Ukrainian Bessarabia in 2020. He still holds this position today.