Mhallami

The Mhallami or Mhallami Arabs[1][2] also Mhalmites or Mardinli, (Arabic: محلّمي‎, romanized: Mḥallame; Syriac: ܡܚܠܡܝ̈ܐ‎, romanized: Mḥallmāye; Turkish: Mıhellemi; Kurdish: Mehelmî‎) are an Arabic-speaking tribal group, traditionally living in and around the city of Mardin, Turkey but also having a large presence in Lebanon as well having as a substantial European diaspora. Outside of the region, they are also known as Mardinli. In Germany they are known as Lebanon Kurds[3][4][5] or Mhallami Kurds.[6][7][8] They are primarily speakers of North Mesopotamian Arabic and Shafi‘i Sunni Muslims.[9]

Mhallami
Total population
Total unknown
Languages
North Mesopotamian Arabic, Turkish
Religion
Sunni Islam

Origin

Multiple claims regarding the origins of the group have been presented, that the group descends from either Assyrian or Kurdish population groups of the Mardin region that converted to Islam and Arabized linguistically or that the group originates from the Arab Peninsula. According to Ya'qubi, in his book Kitab Futuh Al-buldan, after the Umayyad expansion into north Mesopotamia (661–750), there was a resettlement by the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I of the Arab tribe of Banu Bakr from Najd in central Saudi Arabia to the region of Mardin, possibly being the ancestors of the Mhallami.[10][9]

Mhallami of Lebanon

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.[11] 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.[12]

Mhallami of Turkey

Most Mhallamis in Turkey live in Mardin, and at the village of Yerköy. The first Mhallami cultural association of Turkey was founded in February 2008 in Mercimekli village of Midyat. In 2015, the founding chairman Mehmet Ali Aslan became the first Mhallami to be elected a member of the Turkish Parliament from the Kurdish HDP party.[13]

Further reading
  • The Kurdish community in Lebanon by Lokman Meho.

See also

References
  1. Fred Donner: Tribe and state in Arabia. Princeton University Press 1981
  2. Otto Jastrow , Die arabischen Dialekte des Vilayets Mardin (Südosttürkei), ZDMG Suppl 1 XVII Dt. Orientalistentag. Vorträge Teil II, Sektion 6, Wiesbaden 1969
  3. "Brennpunkt Gifhorn: Clankriminalität im Fokus der Polizei".
  4. "Großfamilie kommt nach Tumulten in Hameln mit Bewährung davon". Die Welt. 17 May 2017.
  5. "Migrationsblog".
  6. https://www.cicero.de/innenpolitik/mhallamiye-kurden-ihre-verachtung-fuer-uns-ist-grenzenlos/60845
  7. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/inland/mhallamiye-kurden-in-deutschland-parallele-welten-12905242.html?printPagedArticle=true#pageIndex_0
  8. https://www.berliner-zeitung.de/berlin/polizei/clanstrukturen-kamen-mit-fluechtlingswelle-in-den-achtzigerjahren-23670634
  9. Fahd Al-Semmari (30 November 2009). A History of the Arabian Peninsula. I.B.Tauris. pp. 29–. ISBN 978-0-85771-323-0.
  10. https://archive.org/stream/KitabFutuhAl-buldan2VolsSet/KitabFutuhAl-buldanVol-1#page/n287/mode/2up
  11. Die Libanon-Flüchtlinge in Berlin Ralph Ghadban (in German)Archived August 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  12. Heinrich Freckmann, Jürgen Kalmbach: Staatenlose Kurden aus dem Libanon oder türkische Staatsangehörige? (Ergebnis einer Untersuchung vom 08.–18. März 2001 in Beirut, Mardin und Ankara), Hannover, Hildesheim, 2001; S. 3–4 (in German)
  13. "A more colourful parliament". Agos. 8 June 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
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