Nea Alikarnassos

Nea Alikarnassos (Greek: Νέα Αλικαρνασσός, meaning New Halicarnassus) is a town and a former municipality in the Heraklion regional unit, Crete, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Heraklion, of which it is a municipal unit.^[2] The municipal unit has an area of 16.1 km².^[3] Population 14,624 (2021). It is located on the north coast of the island and is served by the Nikos Kazantzakis International Airport. In the settlement of Prassas, the Minoan ruins of two houses were found.

Nea Alikarnassos Νέα Αλικαρνασσός
Municipal unit
Aerial photograph of Nea Alikarnassos
Nea Alikarnassos Location within the regional unit
Coordinates: 35°19′N 25°11′E
Country	Greece
Administrative region	Crete
Regional unit	Heraklion
Municipality	Heraklion
Area
• Municipal unit	16.1 km2 (6.2 sq mi)
Population  (2021)[1]
• Municipal unit	14,624
• Municipal unit density	910/km2 (2,400/sq mi)
• Community	13,090
Time zone	UTC+2 (EET)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3 (EEST)

Nea Alikarnassos was founded in 1925 as a public housing development to accommodate the refugees, who were displaced following the Greco-Turkish War and subsequent population exchange, most being Greeks from today's Bodrum (Alikarnassos in Greek from the ancient Greek town Halicarnassus).

Heraklion's Hellenic Police headquarters are located within the area. Alongside sits a camp which houses (estimatedly) 500 Romani residents living under poverty conditions, having limited water supply and sewage management.^[4]

Politics

The elections tend to reveal a domination of left-leaning parties. In the general elections of 2007 the distribution percentage of representatives were as follows: Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK) 52.85% (2004: 54,54%), the conservative New Democracy 31,22% (2004: 33.84%), the Communist Party of Greece 8.97% (2004: 8.00%), the left Coalition of the Radical Left (SYRIZA) 3.15% (2004: 2.14%), the right Popular Orthodox Rally 1.61% (2004: 1.07%) and the Green Party 1.19%.

Evangelos Sisamakis (PASOK) was first elected mayor in 2003 and was reelected in 2006 with 63% of the votes in the first round.^[5]

Sports

The town of Nea Alikarnassos hosts the Greek football club P.A.S.A. Irodotos F.C., founded in 1932, with presence in Super League Greece 2.