doc_text: Moldavia, acting to defuse one of the Soviet Union's most explosive ethnic conflicts, agreed Sunday to comply with a Kremlin order to reconsider its law making Moldavian the republic's official language.
  The republic's parliament acted in response to a decree issued on Dec. 22 by President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the official news agency Tass reported.
  Gorbachev also gave the republic 10 days to dissolve a new national guard and to come up with measures guaranteeing equal rights for all ethnic groups within its borders.
  Tass said the Moldavan parliament agreed to disband the nationalguard and to revise a law that Gorbachev said restricted the rights of minorities.
  Ethnic tension has gripped Moldavia, a largely agricultural republic bordering Romania, during its push for independence from the Soviet Union this year.
  The unrest turned violent last month, when government troops clashed with activists, leaving four dead.
  Gorbachev said the conflicts had reached "critical levels," and he put part of the blame on the Moldavian Supreme Soviet for enacting laws that discriminate against minorities.
  Alarmed by rising Moldavian nationalism, two of the republic's minority groups have begun their own separatist movements.
  The Gagauz, a group of about 150,000 Turkish Christians, declared a new republic in southern Moldavia.
  In the eastern part of Moldavia, more than 300,000 ethnic Russians and Ukrainians have joined in declaring a new republic along the Dneister River.
  All three groups claim discrimination by Moldavians.
  In particular, they resent a new law making Moldavian the official language and requiring people in dozens of jobs ranging from doctors to hairdressers to pass Moldavian language tests by 1995.
  Tass did not say how the Moldavian parliament would modify the law.
  Moldavian is identical to Romanian except for the Cyrillic script Josef Stalin imposed on the republic.
  It is spoken by two-thirds of the republic's residents.
  Soviet hard-liners want Gorbachev to impose a state of emergency and presidential rule in troubled zones throughout the ethnically and geographically diverse country.
  Gorbachev said the declaration of the Gagauz and Dniester republics was illegal under the Soviet and Moldavian constitutions, as were elections to form legislatures and any actions by those bodies.
  The Moldavian legislature has also voted to declare the elections null and void.
  After residents of the Gagauz region began holding local elections in late October, the Moldavian legislature clamped a two-month state of emergency on the region, restricting movement in and out of the area and banning public rallies.
  Volunteer brigades of college-age Moldavians, who then flocked to the region to try to stop the separatist movement, were ordered dissolved by Gorbachev's decree.
  The volunteers were organized by nationalist groups, including the Moldavian People's Front.
summary_text: Moldova, acting to defuse one of the Soviet union's most explosive ethnic conflicts, agreed to comply with a Kremlin order to reconsider its law making Moldavian the republic's official language.
  Gorbachev gave the republic 10 days to dissolve a new national guard and to establish measures guaranteeing equal rights for all ethnic groups within its borders.
  Unrest has griped Moldava, a largely agricultural republic bordering Romania, during its push for independence from the Soviet Union.
  Alarmed by rising Moldavian nationalism and declaring they are discriminated against by Moldavans, two of the republic's minority groups have begun their own separatist movements.