Chchalta
| Chchalta Чҳалҭа Чхалта |
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| ჩხალთა | |||
| State : |
 Abkhazia (de facto) Georgia (de jure)
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| Rajon : | Gulrypsch district | ||
| Coordinates : | 43 ° 6 ′ N , 41 ° 40 ′ E | ||
| Residents : | 140 (2002) | ||
| Time zone : | Moscow Time (UTC + 3) | ||
| License plate : | DEP | ||
| Community type: | Village | ||
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Chchalta is a municipality in the disputed region of Abkhazia .
It is the largest town in the upper Kodori Valley in the Greater Caucasus and was temporarily the capital of the administrative district of Upper Abkhazia .
The place is located on the Chchalta river of the same name at the foot of the Chchalta mountain range . The majority of his houses are wooden barracks . The only access road has deep potholes and can only be driven on by horses or four-wheel drive cars. Eight months of the year the road is covered in snow and the place can only be reached by helicopter. The community is at risk of earthquakes . On July 16, 1963, there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale .
In the 1990s, Chchalta became the headquarters of the warlord Emsar Kwitsiani and his militant unit Monadire (German hunter ). When he was evicted by Georgian police on July 25th and 26th, 2006, the place was bombed with helicopters. A civilian was killed.
From September 27, 2006 to August 12, 2008 it is home to the Abkhazian government-in-exile, which was expelled from Sukhumi in 1993 and resided in Tbilisi for 13 years .
The Georgian government has been expanding the community's infrastructure since September 2006. She laid telephone lines, renovated hospitals, built new schools, residential buildings, soccer fields and buildings for authorities. A hydroelectric power station, a cinema and an internet café were also to be added with government funds .
After the Caucasus War in 2008 , Chchalta was occupied on August 13, 2008 by Abkhaz scouting troops led by Abkhazia's Deputy Defense Minister, Colonel Alexander Melnik. According to the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili , all local Georgians were subsequently expelled from the city and the valley.