By Ahmet Salih Alacaci

ANKARA

Turkey and Moldova have reached an agreement to take “tangible” steps to maintain the status of an ethnically Turkic autonomous region within the country, said Turkey’s president on Thursday.

At a joint press conference alongside his Moldovan counterpart Igor Dodon, Recep Tayyip Erdogan stressed the "crucial importance" of Moldova’s territorial integrity while addressing the status of the Gagauzia region.

Turkey "would like to see Gagauzia and Moldova able to sustain their development efforts, side by side," he said in Comrat, Gagauzia’s capital, on the last day of a two-day visit to Moldova.

Gagauzia is an autonomous region in Moldova that is home to a mostly Gagauz population -- an Orthodox Christian, Turkic community.