Tsalka ( , , or , ) is a town and municipality center in southern Georgia's Kvemo Kartli region.
Population
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 the only area in the USSR where the Greek language was taught in schools. Many Tsalka Greeks spoke the Tsalka language, a Turkish dialect.
The population in Tsalka district before 1990 was 55,000 people, and more than 90% Greeks (about 50,000). Before 1990, it was the only city in the USSR with such a high Greek population. There were 49 villages in the district, and 44 were Greek villages. In the past, Greeks 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.Georgia’s Armenian and Azeri Minorities, 22 November 2006 (free registration needed to view the full report)
There are important historical monuments in Tsalka: Kldekari Fortress (ninth century) and the church of St. George in Dashbashi (tenth-eleventh centuries). Tsalka Canyon and its new bridge are also interesting tourist attractions.
Geography The town and municipality center of Tsalka is located south of the Tsalka Plateau in the Trialeti region, about 60 km southwest of the capital Tbilisi.
Climate
Gallery
See also Tsalka Canyon Natural Monument Tsalka Urums Trialeti petroglyphs
References
Further reading ԾԱԼԿԱՅԻ ՇՐՋԱՆԻ ՀԱՅ ԲՆԱԿՉՈՒԹՅՈՒՆԸ. ԱՆՑՅԱԼԸ, ՆԵՐԿԱՆ ԵՎ ԱՊԱԳԱՆ by Robert Tatoyan