AO PILIGRIM-DEMO

Logo of AO PILIGRIM-DEMO

The Public Association "Piligrim Demo Youth Centre" was established on 6 February 2003, with Mihail Sirkeli serving as Executive Director. The organisation's mission is to promote democratic values and human rights in the Gagauzia ATU through supporting citizen participation, monitoring authorities, and providing expertise. Piligrim-Demo's main activities include election monitoring, electoral reform in ATU Gagauzia, human rights and civic education promotion, improving access to information, ensuring transparency in autonomy decision-making, and advocacy work. The organisation has monitored several cycles of local elections. In 2017, the Association launched the nokta.md news portal.

Key Facts

Business FormCommercial / For-profit
Legal FormNGO

Media Outlets

Facts

Founding Year2003
Founder
  • Mihail Sirkeli

    Mihail Sirkeli is a journalist and civic activist. According to his LinkedIn profile, between 2009 and 2011, Mihail Sirkeli served as an OSCE election observer for elections in Macedonia, Albania, Croatia, Slovakia, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus, Estonia and the Republic of Moldova. Between November 2012 and December 2015, he worked as a national expert and consultant to the OSCE Mission to Moldova. From February 2003 to the present, he has served as the Executive Director of the Piligrim Demo NGO. Previously he was a presenter on TV8. Since March 2024, he has co-hosted with Ivan Sveatcenko the podcast "Это вам не мешки таскать" on the portal nokta.md and YouTube channel NonFiction. On October 3, 2023, the Russian Federation banned Mikhail Sirkeli from entering the country.

    Over the years of his work, Mihail Sirkeli has been repeatedly attacked, intimidated, and threatened by representatives of local authorities. In August 2018, Sirkeli and his colleagues were targeted with attacks and threats after publishing an article about a local dignitary. In May 2022, he received death threats from a Comrat City Hall employee who had been mentioned in an article. In November 2022, a group of pro-Russian nationalists demanded that Mikhail Sirkeli be anathematized and excommunicated. In February 2023, Sirkeli was attacked and intimidated during a broadcast on the regional public TV channel over his critical views on the referendum held in the Gagauz autonomy in February 2014, which was later declared illegal by Moldovan courts. In April 2023, the journalist was accused and insulted during a broadcast on TV-Gagauzia by the President of the People's Assembly of Gagauzia, Dumitru Constantinov. The regional public broadcaster was fined for the incident. Media NGOs condemned each of these incidents, signed official statements, and called on the authorities to intervene.

    Mihail Sirkeli was awarded in 2022 at the Journalist of the Year Gala organized by the Independent Journalism Center in the editorial category. In April 2024, Mihail Sirkeli was elected president of the Independent Press Association for a two-year term.

  • Maria Sirkeli

    Maria Sirkeli is  Mihail Sirkeli's wife and coordinates projects implemented by Piligrim Demo.

Contactstr. Comsomolului 149
m. Comrat
Moldova, Republic of
info@piligrim-demo.org.md
+373 298 80571
https://nokta.md/
Tax / ID Number1012620003704
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Executive Board
  • Serghei Lîsenco

    Consultant, trainer in non-formal education 

  • Vasilii Cantarji

    Sociologist at the SBS-AXA Sociology 

  • Serghei Neicovcen

    Head of Contact Center

Headlines
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Meta Data

Information about the Piligrim-Demo Association is limited in the public domain. The organization's website is no longer accessible. The management of the NGO did not respond to the MOM team's request for information, but indicated on the nokta.md website the founders and members of the executive board.

Sources