Mr Saakashvili had to tread carefully in Ajaria because of a sprawling ex-Soviet base near Batumi, a legacy of the days when this was a cold-war frontier between the Red Army and Turkey, a NATO member.

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Later that month, more than 20 homes in Turkey's southeast were mysteriously marked by red paint.

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These days, choosing a red wine to pair with your turkey could take you to the foothills of the Andes, the vineyards of Oregon or the sunny valleys of Australia.

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Waiving red and white Turkish flags, the demonstrators chanted: Turkey is secular and it will remain secular and no mullahs in the presidential palace.

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