Tkvarcheli

Tkvarcheli is a town in the Tkvarcheli district of Abkhazia, a breakaway region of Georgia on the Black Sea coast, situated on the Ghalidzga River with rail links to Ochamchire. The town grew around coal mining, with extraction beginning in 1935 and expanding after the Second World War cut off Soviet supplies from the Donbas region; it received official town status on 9 April 1942. Its population fell sharply after the 1992 to 1993 war in Abkhazia, from 21,744 residents in 1989 to 5,013 at the 2011 census, leaving parts of the town, including the nearby settlement of Akarmara, largely abandoned. In 2008 Abkhaz authorities granted Tkvarcheli the honorary title of Hero City in recognition of its role in that war.