Mhallami


The Mhallami or Mhallami Arabs also Mhalmites or Mardinli, 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 or Mhallami Kurds. They are primarily speakers of North Mesopotamian Arabic and Shafi‘i Sunni Muslims. An small minority is also part of the Syriac Orthodox Church and Maronite Church

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, 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.

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. 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.

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.
The Turkish Noble Prize Winner Aziz Sancar is of Mhallami-Arab Descent.