Tsalka


Tsalka, 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 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. 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. 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 and the church of St. George in Dashbashi. Dashbashi canyon is also an interesting tourist attraction.