History

Timeline

1. 1517

   The name Mezirme in an Ottoman tax survey Documented

   Harun Yıldız, drawing on a 2004 study by Alemdar Yalçın and Hacı Yılmaz, reports that Ballıkaya, the centre of the Şah İbrahim Velî ocak (a hereditary sacred lineage), appears under its old name Mezirme in the Ottoman tax survey registers of 1517 (Yıldız 2012, p. 130).

   The tahrir registers were surveys of population and land carried out by the Ottoman state for tax purposes.

2. 1530

   “Merzume” in the record Documented

   Nişanyan Yeradları gives the name of the settlement as Merzume in a record dated 1530 (Nişanyan place names).

3. 16th century

   Villages attached to the ocak Documented

   According to Yıldız, it appears that the villages attached to the Şah İbrahim Velî ocak in Malatya and its districts were founded before the 16th century (Yıldız 2012, p. 130).

4. 17th century

   Şah Velî Reported

   According to sources on the ocak, Şah Velî, one of the descendants of Şah İbrahim Velî, lived in the 17th century, restored the Karadirek lodge (tekke) and travelled through the neighbouring provinces, increasing the number of the ocak’s followers; alongside his role as dede (spiritual leader) he kept vineyards and gardens and worked as a miller and beekeeper. Yıldız reports this information from Abbas Yıldırım’s 2006 book (Yıldız 2012, p. 130).

5. 1916

   “Mezirme” in the records Documented

   Nişanyan Yeradları gives the name of the settlement as Mezirme in a record dated 1916 and describes it as an Alevi Turkish village in the early 20th century (Nişanyan place names).

6. 1960s

   The name Ballıkaya Reported

   According to local sources, the village’s official name was changed to Ballıkaya in the early 1960s (Özerol, blog). We are looking for the official document that shows the date of the change.

7. 1980s

   The village moves to a new site

   The old village was abandoned, and a new settlement was built as a planned housing estate immediately to its north Documented (Nişanyan place names).

   According to local sources, the reason for the move was a landslide; the decision on the new settlement was taken in 1983, and 114 houses were built between 1985 and 1990 Reported (Özerol, blog).

8. 2014

   From village to neighbourhood Documented

   Law No. 6360 established a metropolitan municipality in Malatya; the legal personality of the villages in the province was abolished and they were joined, as neighbourhoods (mahalle), to the municipality of the district they belonged to (Law No. 6360, Article 1). The Law was published in 2012, and these provisions took effect with the local elections of 30 March 2014. Since then Ballıkaya has been a neighbourhood of Hekimhan.

9. 2015

   Protected-area survey of the rocky area Reported

   According to a report in the local press, the Nature Conservation Branch of the Malatya Provincial Directorate of Environment and Urbanisation surveyed the rocky area in and around Ballıkaya to determine whether it should be declared a protected area (SİT alanı); the area was found to be a habitat of wild goats (Malatya Haber, 28 Dec 2015). We have not yet found the official decision showing the outcome of the survey.

10. Today

    Population Documented

    According to TÜİK data, 256 people lived in Ballıkaya in 2021 and 222 in 2025 (TÜİK, ADNKS). For details, see the key facts page.

Information awaiting verification

The following information appears in local sources (Özerol, blog), but we have not yet been able to compare it with a primary document. Items will be added to the timeline as documents are found.

• That 21 households were registered in the tax survey of 1560
• That 32 households and a population of 252 were registered in 1894–1895, in the sub-district (nahiye) of Arguvan, then part of Harput
• That the primary school opened in 1926 and has been closed since 1994
• That the gendarmerie station was established in 1929
• That the health centre opened in 1965
• The years in which the telephone (1985), drinking water (1986), electricity (1987) and sewerage (1991) arrived