Tkvarcheli is a town in Abkhazia

Abkhazia

Abkhazia is a disputed political entity on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and the south-western flank of the Caucasus.Abkhazia considers itself an independent state, called the Republic of Abkhazia or Apsny...

. It is situated on the river Ghalidzga (Aaldzga) and the railroad connects it with Ochamchira.

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 II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 as the major coal mines of Donbass were temporarily lost to the Germans

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

.

During the War in Abkhazia (1992-3), Tkvarcheli withheld, through Russian humanitarian and military aid, an uneasy siege

Battle of Tkvarcheli

The 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 district

Tkvarcheli district

Tquarchal district is a district of the Republic of Abkhazia. It has no equivalent Georgian district, as it was newly formed in 1995 from parts of Ochamchira District and Gali District, centered around its eponymous capital, Tkvarcheli . The population of the district is 14,477 according to the...

.

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-Turkish

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in 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 Sochi

Sochi

Sochi is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, situated just north of Russia's border with the de facto independent republic of Abkhazia, on the Black Sea coast. Greater Sochi sprawls for along the shores of the Black Sea near the Caucasus Mountains...

. Georgia
regards all this investment as illegal, in clear violation of the 1996 CIS

Commonwealth of Independent States

The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....

 restrictions and has arrested several vessels, loaded with coal from Tkvarcheli, in its territorial waters

Territorial waters

Territorial 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 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 Abkhaz

Abkhaz people

The Abkhaz or Abkhazians are a Caucasian ethnic group, mainly living in Abkhazia, a disputed region on the Black Sea coast. A large Abkhazian diaspora population resides in Turkey, the origins of which lie in the emigration from the Caucasus in the late 19th century known as Muhajirism...

 (42.3%), Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

 (24.5%) and Georgians

Georgians

The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

 (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.