Tsalka

Tsalka (Georgian: წალკა, Ćalḱa, [tsʼɑlkʼɑ]), is a town and municipality center in southern Georgia's Kvemo Kartli region.

Tsalka წალკა
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Tsalka Location of Tsalka in Georgia Show map of Georgia Tsalka Tsalka (Kvemo Kartli) Show map of Kvemo Kartli
Coordinates: 41°35′0″N 44°05′0″E
Country	Georgia
Mkhare	Kvemo Kartli
Population  (2014)
• Total	2,326
Time zone	UTC+4 (Georgian Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+5
Climate	Dfb

Population

Dashbashi Waterfall, situated at the bottom of Dashbashi Canyon, is of cascade type.

The district had a population of 2,326. According to the 2014 census 47% of its population is Georgian, 38% Armenian, 7% Caucasus Greeks , and 7% Azerbaijanis. Up until the 1990s, Russian served as the language of inter-ethnic communication and was the language of education in most of the schools in the Tsalka district. It was alone area in USSR where Greek language was educated in schools. Population in Tsalka district before 1990 was 55000 people, and more from 90% Greeks (about 50000). Before 1990 it was alone city in USSR vs Greek population. In Tsalka district was 48 villages, and 44 from it Greek villages. In the past they used to be the majority of Tsalka but now their numbers have considerably decreased due to emigration to Greece. Several thousand ethnic Georgians who had suffered from landslides in Svaneti and Adjara were settled in Tsalka in 1997–2006.[1] The settlement of these newcomers sometimes led to ethnic tensions with Tsalka's original Greek and Armenian population. According to the 2014 Georgian census, there were only 2,113 Greeks in all of Kvemo Kartli, indicating a further massive drop in numbers of Tsalkan Greeks.

There are important historical monuments in Tsalka. Kldekari Fortress (ninth century) and the church of St. George in Dashbashi (tenth-eleventh centuries). Dashbashi canyon[2] is also an interesting tourist attraction.[3]

See also

• Dashbashi Canyon Natural Monument
• Tsalka Urums
• Trialeti petroglyphs

References

1. Georgia’s Armenian and Azeri Minorities, 22 November 2006 (free registration needed to view the full report) Archived September 15, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
2. Dashbashi canyon
3. "Tsalka Canyons and Kldekari Fortress - Georgian Tour Magazine". Georgian Tour Magazine. 2015-12-21. Retrieved 2016-05-10.

• Anjaparidze, Zaal (March 23, 2005). "Georgia's Greek and Armenian communities decry resettlement plans". Eurasia Daily Monitor.

Further reading

• (in Armenian) ԾԱԼԿԱՅԻ ՇՐՋԱՆԻ ՀԱՅ ԲՆԱԿՉՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ. ԱՆՑՅԱԼԸ, ՆԵՐԿԱՆ ԵՎ ԱՊԱԳԱՆ by Robert Tatoyan