The Mhalmoyto: its cities, villages, monasteries and churches

---

Denho Bar Mourad-Özmen is a former special educator and advisor at Sweden’s National Agency for Special Education. He is a lecturer, published educational films on Swedish TV,  and has written articles in Swedish educational magazines. He was born in the village of Habses, Tur Abdin, and has written on the Syriac people for Hujada Magazine and the Syriac Orthodox Patriarchal Magazine. He is a long-time journalist and TV moderator at Suroyo TV.

Also read: Famous Mhalmoye of the Christian era, The Mhalmoye (ܡܚܠܡ̈ܝܐ) and their conversion to Christianity, The Mhalmoye (ܡܚܠܡ̈ܝܐ). Who are they?

Notes

[I] Maktahbzabno d-Turabdin (History of Turabdin)

[II] Mihallami köylerinin etimolojik manalari  hakkinda bir kisa arastirma, Abraham Garis.

[III] According to the elders of Habses and the residents of Estel, the ruins of this church are north of the city and west of the road to Mardin.

[IV] In the 1970s in Estel, there were several business owners and tailors who were Christian Mhalmoye.

[V] In Macsarto only one Christian Mhalmayto family remains.

[VI] There live some 150 Christian Mhalmoye in the city of Mardin today.

[VII] The last Christian Mhalmoye families moved from Hisno d-Kifo to Midyat and Europe in the late 1970s.

[VIII] The last Christian families moved from Kfar-Gawze (Gercus) in the late 1970s.

[VIIII] Until the 1970s, 320 families lived in Qeleth. At the end of the 1980s, only 3 families remained. Most villagers moved to Sweden and other EU countries.

[X] According to www.Mardinlife.com, Rashidiye is the name of the capital of the area. The area consists of several villages which are also mentioned as Kösa villages. The inhabitants of all the villages are Mhalmoye.

[XI] According to www.Mardinlife.com, I Khirbe du Haci was founded by Haci Abdurrahman Ali, originally (1850) a Christian Assyrian/Syriac/Mhalmoyo from Dayro Zbino  (Acirli). All the villagers are descendants of this Haci Abdurrahman.

[XII] According to Nisanyan Haldah, it was inhabited by Christian Mhalmoye in the early 20th century.

[XIII] According to a statement he wrote about himself ( found in a manuscript of the Gospel in the Church of Omid (Diyarbakir)), Kfar Heworo gave the Syriac Church a very famous calligrapher, namely Archbishop Joseph (1513).

[XIV] According to Nisanyan Haldah, Kfarzote was conquered by Mardin’s ruler named Temurtas in 1150 and became his property. Previously, it belonged to the Assyrian King Adad Nirari I.

[XV] According to Nisanyan Haldah, Qendarbe ܩܢ ܕܪ̈ܒܐ was inhabited by Christian Assyrian/Syriac Mhalmoye in the early 1920s.

[XVI] According to Nisanyan Haldah, Rish was inhabited by Christians in the early 20th century. Rish is also the place where alle the male members of the Be Hermez family were thrown into a well after they were tortured. None of them survived. The Be Hermez family was Midyat’s richest family and was Protestant. According to testimonies about the Sayfo Genocide of 1915, the number of murdered Be Hermez members in Rish was 75. This event is considered as the beginning of the Sayfo Genocide in Midyat (Sayfo ܣܝܦܐ is the Syriac name for the genocide on Christians in the Ottoman Empire).

[XVII] Hlula means feast, wedding, gala.

[XVIII] Present-day Sawro includes the former Avine ܨܘܪܐ / ܐܦܝܢܐ (Surgücü) and the original Savur districts such as Mishtiye. The Christian Mhalmye/Assyrians were the majority in Avine, until the beginning of the 19th century. After the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey, the Christian population completely disappeared in the 1970s. The last Christian family who left were blacksmiths. The family moved to Sweden.

[XIX] Qaluq is one of the villages of the Sawro (Savur). The village was populated by Christian Mhalmoye in the 18th century. (The scattered pearls, Ignatius Aphrem Barsoum, Alfaprint. Sundbyberg. 2006. p. 436)

[XX] Romaniye was inhabited by Christian Mhalmoye until the end of the 16th century. (See The Scattered Pearls p. 436).

[XXI] According to Nisanyan in his book Yeradlari, Haldah had a Christian Mhalmoye population until the early 20th century. Today, the population is called Habesbeniye and are Muslim Mhalmoye.

References

Türkiye Yer Adları Sözlüğü, Sevan Nışanyan. Liberya Yayınları, 2020.

The Scattered Pearls (De spridda pärlornaP, Patriarch Ignatios Aphrem I Barsoum. Alfa print, Sundbyberg, 2006.

www.mardinlife.com

Mıhalmi Kültürü. Etnografik bir çalışma, Otto Jastrow, Avesta, 2015.

Habsus-Turabdinde bir suryani mihallami köyu, Zakay Demir, Anadolu offset, 2013.

Habobo d mafsah. Makthabzabno d dairo d Saleh, 1973