Mhallami

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Mhallami
محلّمى
Total population
150,000[citation needed]
Regions with significant populations
   Turkey 60,000[citation needed]
   Lebanon 50,000[citation needed]
   European Union 25,000[citation needed]
   Germany 15,000[citation needed][1]
Languages
North Mesopotamian Arabic
Western Aramaic, Kurdish & Turkish
Religion
Sunni Islam
Related ethnic groups
other Semitic peoples
Syrian

The Mhallami, or Mhalmites, (Arabic: محلّمى‎‎, Mḥallame; Syriac: ܡܚܠܡܝ̈ܐ‎, Mḥallmāye/Mḥallmoye; Turkish: Mıhellemi) are Syrians, most of whom are living in and around the city of Mardin, Turkey. Outside of the region, they are also known as Mardinli.

Originating from the Arab tribe of Banu Hanifa, their homeland was Najd in central Arabia, but they were settled by the Umayyad caliph Muawiyah I to that region. They are now primarily speakers of North Mesopotamian Arabic (qiltu variant) and Sunni Muslims of Shafi`i madh'hab.[2]

Origin

After the Umayyad expansion into north Mesopotamia, many families from the Arabian Peninsula were settled to the region of Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia, wrote Yaqubi, who lived around that time, in his book Kitab Futuh Al-buldan[3] about the resettlement to the region of Mardin.[2]

Mhallami of Lebanon

Lebanon had a population of 70,000 to 100,000 Mhallami prior to Lebanese Civil War.[4] 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.[citation needed][5]

Mhallami of Turkey

Most Mhallamis in Turkey live in Mardin, and at the village of Yerköy.[citation needed]

The first Mhallami cultural association of Turkey was founded in February 2008 in Mercimekli village of Midyat.[citation needed] In 2015, the founding chairman Mehmet Ali Aslan became the first Mhallami to be elected a member of the Turkish Parliament.[6]

References