Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul warned Georgia and its breakaway Adjara region on Tuesday that any escalation in their dispute over sovereignty would destabilise the whole region, Anatolia news agency reported.
"We recommend prudence. We are drawing attention to the uncertainty that will emerge there with any bloody incident... A military operation or a confrontation... such incidents are opening very deep wounds in the Caucasus," Gul told reporters, according to Anatolia.
Gul, whose country is both a neighbour and an ally of Georgia, said he had a telephone conversation with Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania on Monday to discuss the conflict.
"The Adjara leadership should know that it is part of Georgia and that it should act within the framework of this country's territorial and political integrity," the minister said.
The Georgian government on Monday mounted an economic blockade of Adjara, a semi-autonomous region on the Black Sea coast, after it failed to meet a deadline to recognise Tbilisi's authority.
The move was the latest step in an escalating stand-off that was sparked early Sunday when armed supporters of Adjara's leader Aslan Abashidze barred Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili from entering the coastal territory, which also adjoins Turkey.
Turkey and Georgia have enjoyed close ties ever since the Caucasian nation declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
The two countries, together with Azerbaijan, are involved in the construction of a major US-sponsored oil pipeline to carry Azeri oil from Baku via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan.