Sadakhlo ( Georgian: სადახლო, ) is a village in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

located in the southern part of country in the administrative territory of

Marneuli Municipality Marneuli ( ka, მარნეულის მუნიციპალიტეტი, ) is a municipality in Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli. Its administrative center and main town is Marneuli. Location Marneuli Municipality is s ...

(

Kvemo Kartli Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი ) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region (mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital. Location Kvemo Kartli is a region ...

Region) at the

border Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...

with

Armenia Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...

. The village is about south of the municipal center Marneuli and south of the capital

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი, ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), ( ka, ტფილისი, tr ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia ( ...

. It is situated along the left bank of the Debeda river. Sadakhlo is the largest village in Georgia, and is the center of the eponymous administrative community (თემი, temi) that includes 4 other nearby villages: Burma, Tazakendi, Molaoghli, and Khuldara. The Sadakhlo market played a remarkable role in the interaction between

Karapapakhs The Karapapakhs (; ), or Terekeme (; ), are a Turkic people, who originally spoke the Karapapakh language, a western Oghuz language closely related to Azerbaijani and Turkish. Nowadays, the Karapapakh language has been largely supplanted by ...

and

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

, in light of the

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is an ethnic and territorial conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, inhabited mostly by ethnic Armenians until 2023, and seven surrounding districts, inhabited mostly by Azerbai ...

. Sadakhlo is almost entirely populated with

, and is an important border town with Armenia. Since Georgia took a neutral stance in the conflict, the village became a neutral territory where both peoples could freely and safely interact with each other. Six kilometers west of Sadakhlo, in the village of Tsopi along the national route Sh37 to Akhkerpi, the ruins of the medieval Tsopi fortress are located. This castle dates from the 5th-6th century.

Population

The population of Sadakhlo village is 7,337, according to the 2014 census. Apart from a few dozen people, the village is Karapapakh (99.8%).

Transport

The ''road of international importance'' S7 ( E001), the main road between

and

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , ; ; sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia, as well as one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerev ...

(

), passes through Sadakhlo. The Sadakhlo - Bagratashen border crossing is the most important of the four vehicular crossings between Georgia and Armenia. More than 1.2 million incoming travellers were registered in 2019. This is 15.7% of all inbound travellers to Georgia. This also leads to additional investments in infrastructure. With European money the car bridge across the Debeda is being renovated and expanded to four lanes. There is a train station in Sadakhlo, which is on the Tbilisi -

Gyumri Gyumri (, ) is an urban municipal community and the List of cities and towns in Armenia, second-largest city in Armenia, serving as the administrative center of Shirak Province in the northwestern part of the country. By the end of the 19th centur ...

- Yerevan railway line which opened in 1899. The railway runs along the village and crosses the border parallel to the S7. There are frequent night trains between Tbilisi and Yerevan. The station serves not only as a terminus for the Tbilisi - Sadakhlo commuter trains and stop for the international trains, but also as a border post for the latter. Nearly 3,400 passengers entered Georgia here in 2019. From the center of Sadakhlo, the national route Sh37 heads west to Akhkerpi, which also has a border crossing to Armenia. It is Georgia's least used border crossing with 133 arriving travelers in 2019.

References

{{reflist Populated places in Marneuli Municipality Tiflis Governorate

Population

Transport

See also

References