style="font-size:10.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""> Samtskhe, whose two most illustrious representatives were Shalva and
Ivane Akhaltsikheli (of Akhaltsikhe). From the 13th up to the 17th century the
city and Samtkhe were governed by the feudal family of the Jaqelis. In 1576 the Ottomans took
it and from 1628 the city became the centre of the Samtskhe Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. In 1828, during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829,
