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Tkvarcheli ({{lang-ab|Тҟəарчал}},
Tqwarchal, {{lang-ka|ტყვარჩელი}}) is a town in
AbkhaziaAbkhazia is a disputed region on the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Since its declaration of independence from Georgia in 1991 during the Georgian–Abkhaz conflict, it is governed as the partially-recognized Republic of Abkhazia.Georgia considers Abkhazia part of its territory and has designated...
. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga (Aaldzga) and the railroad connects it with
OchamchireOchamchira, commonly referred to as Ochamchire; is a seaside city on the Black Sea coast of Abkhazia, and a centre of the eponymous district.According to the 1978 population census, Ochamchira had 18,700 residents...
.
History
Tkvarcheli became a town in 1942 as the coal-mining (that had started in its vicinity in 1935) grew in importance during the
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
as the major coal mines of Donbass were temporarily lost to the
GermansGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
.
During the War in Abkhazia (1992-3), Tkvarcheli withheld, through Russian humanitarian and military aid, an
uneasy siegeThe Siege of Tkvarcheli refers to the eventually unsuccessful siege of the Abkhazian town of Tkvarcheli during the 1992-1993 War in Abkhazia by the National Guard of Georgia. The siege lasted from October 1992 to September 1993, covering almost the entire duration of the war. It was accompanied by...
by the Georgian forces. Since 1995 it is the centre of the newly-formed
Tkvarcheli districtTkvarcheli district is a district of the Republic of Abkhazia. It is the only district which has no equivalent Georgian district, as it was newly formed in 1995 from parts of Ochamchire district and Gali district, centered around its eponymous capital, Tkvarcheli. The population of the district is...
.
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Industry
The coal-mining has been the town's main industry ever since although now the Soviet mines are closed and coal is quarried only by the Abkhaz-
TurkishTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
Tamsaş company using the open pit method. Tamsaş's tax payments account for 75% of the Tkvarcheli district's budget, however the company was criticised for neglecting environmental requirements. Construction of a new cement plant is planned now, its output to be used for the Olympic construction projects in
SochiSochi is a Russian resort city, situated in Krasnodar Krai just north of the southern Russian border. It sprawls along the shores of the Black Sea and against the background of the snow-capped peaks of the Caucasus Mountains. At , Greater Sochi claims to be the longest city in Europe. As of the...
. Georgia
regards all this investment as illegal, in clear violation of the 1996
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restrictions and has arrested several vessels, loaded with coal from Tkvarcheli, in its
territorial watersTerritorial waters, or a territorial sea, as defined by the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, is a belt of coastal waters extending at most twelve nautical miles from the baseline of a coastal state...
, a measure that has reportedly brought Tamsaş to the verge of bankruptcy.
Demography
The town's population was 21,744 in 1989. The three main ethnic groups were
AbkhazAbkhaz and Abkhazian may refer to:* Something of, from, or related to Abkhazia, a de facto independent region with partial recognition as a country, otherwise recognized as part of Georgia* Abkhaz people, persons from Abkhazia, or of Abkhaz descent...
(42.3%),
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
(24.5%) and
GeorgiansThe Georgians are a South Caucasian people and nation mainly centered in Georgia. They also live in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries....
(23.4%). As a result of the War in Abkhazia the town's industries all but stopped and its population decreased greatly and was between 7,000 and 8,000 in 2004 according to some sources and only 4,800 according to others. According to the 2003 census data its population was 4,786.{{Fact|date=June 2007}}