Shida Kartli

Inner Kartli შიდა ქართლი
Mkhare (region)
From the top to bottom-right: Landscape of Inner Kartli, Amilakhvari Castle, Surami Fortress, Uplistsikhe, Gori City Hall .
Overlapping borders of de jure Shida Kartli region and de facto South Ossetia[nt 1]
Country	Georgia
Seat	Gori[1]
Subdivisions	5 municipalities
Government
• Governor	Valerian Mchedlidze [2]
Area
• Total	5,729 km2 (2,212 sq mi)
Population  (2021[3])
• Total	254,081[a]; (est. 284,081)
Time zone	UTC+4 (Georgian Time)
ISO 3166 code	GE-SK
HDI (2021)	0.779[4] high · 7th
Website	shidakartli.gov.ge/en
^a Without Russian occupied part of Shida Kartli

Shida Kartli (Georgian: შიდა ქართლი, šida kartli, [ʃida kʰaɾtʰli]; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (Mkhare) in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of 5,729 square kilometres (2,212 sq mi), Shida Kartli is the 8th largest Georgian region by land area. With 284,081 inhabitants, it is Georgia's seventh-most-populous region. Shida Kartli's capital and largest city, Gori, is the 5th largest city in Georgia.^[3]

The region is bordered by the Russian Federation to the north, Georgian regions of Mtskheta-Mtianeti to the east, Kvemo Kartli to the south, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the southwest, Imereti to the west, and Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti to the northwest. It consists of the following municipalities: Gori, Kaspi, Kareli, Java, Khashuri.

The northern part of the region, namely Java, and northern territories of Kareli and Gori municipalities (total area of 1,393 km²), have been controlled by the authorities of the self-proclaimed Republic of South Ossetia since 1992 and occupied by Russian troops since 2008 Russo-Georgian war.

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