{{Infobox Turkey place | type = village | province = Çanakkale | district = Eceabat | name = Alçıtepe | population_total = 433 | population_as_of = 2021 | coordinates = {{coord|40|06|N|26|13|E|display=it|region:TR_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki}} |image_skyline = ALÇITEPE KÖYÜ - panoramio.jpg |area_code = 0286 }}
'''Alçıtepe''', also known by its former name, '''Krithia''' ({{langx|el|Κριθία}}), is a small village in Turkey on a commanding high plateau, about 4 miles from Cape Helles, the tip of the Thracian Chersonesos, now Gallipoli Peninsula. It is part of the Eceabat District of Çanakkale Province.<ref>[https://www.e-icisleri.gov.tr/Anasayfa/MulkiIdariBolumleri.aspx Köy], Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 1 March 2023.</ref> Its population is 433 (2021).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2021|url=https://www.tuik.gov.tr/indir/duyuru/favori_raporlar.xlsx |access-date=1 March 2023 |publisher=TÜİK|language=tr |format=XLS}}</ref>
Krithia was named after the grain "krithos", which in Greek means "barley"; a nearby cape was also called Krithea (Κριθέα) in Byzantine times, now Akbaş Burnu.<ref name="TIB12">{{cite book|first=Andreas|last=Külzer|title=Tabula Imperii Byzantini: Band 12, Ostthrakien (Eurōpē)|publisher=Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften|location=Vienna|year=2008|language=German|isbn=978-3-7001-3945-4|url=http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/3945-4inhalt?frames=yes|pages=475–476}}</ref> In the ''Book of Navigation'' of the Ottoman admiral Piri Reis (1521), it is recorded as Kirte.<ref name="TIB12"/>
At the turn of the 20th century, about 450 Greek families lived in the village.<ref name="TIB12"/> In October 1914, a military mission arrived at the village.<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918">{{cite book| title = Persecution of the Greeks in Turkey, 1914-1918| url = https://archive.org/details/persecutionofgre00consrich| publisher = Constantinople [London, Printed by the Hesperia Press]|date=1919}}</ref> Turkish soldiers with fixed bayonets surrounded the village and forced the evacuation of each house in turn. Then, under the eyes of their officers, they seized everything they could lay their hands on.<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918"/> Stripped of everything they possessed, the inhabitants in despair had to seek refuge in Madytos.<ref name="Persecution_of_the_Greeks_in_Turkey_1914_1918"/>
During the Gallipoli campaign, the village was an objective of the first day of the landing at Cape Helles on 25 April 1915; it was never reached. Over the following months, Ottoman defenders successfully repulsed several assaults by Allied troops. More famously, the village was the site of the Battle of Krithia during the same campaign.
As a result, the settlement suffered extensive damage due to shelling: the two Greek churches were destroyed, and only few traces of its medieval and ancient past remain, such as a column in the village square or architectural elements reused as spolia.<ref name="TIB12"/> Following the departure of the Greek population in the Greco-Turkish population exchange, the village was resettled with Turks from Bulgaria in 1938.<ref name="TIB12"/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==Sources== * {{cite web | url = http://www.awm.gov.au/units/place_95.asp | work= Australian War Memorial | title = Krithia | accessdate=2008-08-05}} * [http://www.nla.gov.au/gallipolidespatches/1-04-first_battle.html First Battle of Krithia]
{{Eceabat District}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alcitepe}} Category:Villages in Eceabat District Category:Gallipoli campaign Category:Former Greek communities in Turkey Category:Places of the Greek genocide