The Mhallami, Mahallami, or Mardelli (Arabic: المُحَلَّمِيَّة, romanized: Al-Muḥallamiyya; Kurdish: Mihellemî; Syriac: ܡܚܠ̈ܡܝܐ, romanized: Mḥallmāye; Turkish: Mıhellemi) is an Arabic-speaking tribal ethnic group traditionally living in and around the city of Mardin, Turkey.[4] Due to migration since 1920 they have a large presence in Lebanon as well. As a result of the Lebanese Civil War, large numbers fled to Europe, particularly Germany. They typically identify themselves as Arabs, but are sometimes associated with other ethnic groups such as Kurds or Assyrian.[5] However, their historical roots are not definitively established.[4][6][7][8] They are Sunni-Muslims and primarily speakers of an Arabic dialect that has Turkish, Kurdish, and Aramaic influences.[4]
The date of their appearance in Anatolia is unknown, but likely sometime in the 5th century. There are no known written records by their ancestors of this period. Among the Mhallami there is a view that they are descended from Banu Hilal tribes, but historical sources and research indicate that this is somewhat unlikely. Arab ancestry is more probably from Rabi'ah tribes, possibly Banu Shayban, though this does not preclude Kurdish and/or Assyrian roots. Some sources view the group as ethnically or denominationally Assyrian.[4]
This theory is also confirmed by orientalist Ishaq Armala and by the Syriac Orthodox patriarch Ignatius Aphrem I who indicated that the Syriac Christians who converted to Islam under pressure started calling themselves Mhalmoye at the end of the 17th century.[9][10]
English traveller Mark Sykes wrote in 1907: This tribe has a peculiar history. They state that 350 years ago they were Christians. During a famine of corn they asked the Patriarch permission to eat meat during Lent. The Patriarch refused, and they became Moslems. They speak a bastard Arabic, and the women wear red clothes and do not veil. Ibrahim Pasha says they are now a mixed race of Arabs and Kurds. Some families are still supposed to be Christians.[11]
Demographics
Turkey
In 2015, the founding chairman Mehmet Ali Aslan became the first Mhallami to be elected a member of the Turkish Parliament from the HDP party.[12] The last leader of the Mhallami in Turkey is lawyer Şeyhmus Miroğlu, member of beytil emir.[13][14]
Diaspora
The migration of the Mhallami from Turkey to Lebanon began in the 1920s. In the 1940s, tens of thousands more came to Lebanon, mostly in the cities of Beirut and Tripoli.[15] The Mhallami had traditionally settled in large numbers in Lebanese regions such as Tripoli, the Beqaa Valley and Beirut where they have become an integral part of the country's Sunni community after migrating from the Mardin Province in Turkey. Lebanon had a population between 70,000 and 100,000 Mhallami prior to Lebanese Civil War.[16] Their origin and legal status became a particular concern when they started to seek asylum in Western European countries en masse in the early 1980s.[17]
The Mhallami were among the Lebanese Civil War refugees from Lebanon who came to Germany and other European countries such as the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden during the Lebanese civil war since 1976 [18] and have since been partially tolerated or live as asylum seekers.[19] With around 8,000 people, Berlin has the largest Mhallami diaspora community in Europe (as of June 2003).[20]
^"Die Mhallamiyya"(PDF), Die Libanon-Flüchtlinge in Berlin. Zur Integration ethnischer Minderheiten (in German), Berlin, 2020, p. 86-65, archived from the original(PDF) on 2007-08-07, retrieved 2020-11-22{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Die arabischen Dialekte des Vilayets Mardin (Südosttürkei), ZDMG Suppl 1 XVII Dt. Orientalistentag. Vorträge Teil II, Sektion 6, Wiesbaden 1969, S. 684
