Machakheli

Machakheli is a historical valley region along the Machakhlistskali river straddling the border of Turkey and Georgia, holding 23 settled villages. Since the border was drawn in 1921 the valley has been split into an upper, Turkish section in the Borcka district of Artvin Province, containing six villages including the district center of Camili, formerly Khertvisi, and a lower, Georgian section within Khelvachauri Municipality in Adjara, containing twelve villages and features including the Machakheli Gun Monument, Gvara fortress and the twelfth-century stone bridge at Mirveti waterfall. The Turkish side was recognized in 2005 as Turkey's only UNESCO biosphere reserve, for its beekeeping and honey production, and the Georgian side established Machakheli National Park in July 2012; the valley was also a center of musket production from the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries.