Salme (village)

Salme

სალმე (Georgian)
Ԥсоу (Abkhaz)
*Salme* (Estonian)
Salme სალმე (Georgian); Ԥсоу (Abkhaz); Salme (Estonian)
Village
	Salme Salme
	Coordinates: 43°26′N 40°02′E / 43.433°N 40.033°E
Country	Georgia
Partially recognized ; independent country	Abkhazia
District	Gagra
Time zone	UTC+3 (MSK)

Salme (Georgian: სალმე; Abkhaz: Ԥсоу, psou; Estonian: Salme; Russian: Сальме) is a village in Abkhazia,^{[note 1]} Georgia.^[1] It was founded in 1884^[1] by Estonian resettlers from Kuusalu, Governorate of Estonia. In 1989 the village had 1659 inhabitants, mostly Estonians, Armenians, Georgians and Russians. Nowadays, most of the inhabitants are Abkhaz, as most of the Estonians were repatriated back to Estonia during the 1992-1993 Georgian-Abkhaz war. The village has subsequently been renamed Psou by Abkhaz authorities after the Psou River.

Notes

^ The political status of Abkhazia is disputed. Having unilaterally declared independence from Georgia in 1992, Abkhazia is formally recognised as an independent state by 5 UN member states (two other states previously recognised it but then withdrew their recognition), while the remainder of the international community recognizes it as de jure Georgian territory. Georgia continues to claim the area as its own territory, designating it as Russian-occupied territory.