Güreşen, formerly Beglevan, Beğlevan, and Pehlevan is a village in Borçka district of Artvin Province, Turkey.Köy, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 666 (2021). It is close to the Georgian border to the east and Çoruh River to the south. The distance to Borçka is and to Artvin is . Both the former and the present names of the village mean “wrestler”. Main economic activity of the watery village is agriculture.
Etymology The oldest name of the village is Beghlevani (), which might be a combination of the words “begheli” (ბეღელი) and “avani” (ავანი), meaning “barn” and “village/town” respectively.
History An Ottoman defter from 1835 registered that the village of Beğlevan () was its own nahiye within Lazistan Sanjak of the Eyalet of Childir.
The village was ceded to Russia as part of the Treaty of Berlin following the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878). An 1886 Russian census recorded the name of the village as Beglevan () and that it was assigned to the Gonio uchastok in Batumi okrug of Kutaisi Governorate.
Demographics Most villagers are ethnically Laz or Hemshin.
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