Iranians in the Netherlands form one of the newer and larger populations of the
Iranian diaspora in Europe.
Iranians in the Netherlands are referred to by hyphenated terms such as Dutch-Iranians, Iranian-Dutch, Dutch-Persian, or Persian-Dutch.
Similar terms ''Iraanse Nederlanders'', ''Nederlandse Iraniërs'', and ''Perzische-Nederlanders'' may be found in
Dutch-language
Dutch ( ) is a West Germanic language spoken by about 25 million people as a first language and 5 million as a second language. It is the third most widely spoken Germanic language, after its close relatives German and English. ''Afrikaans'' i ...
media.
Terminology
Iranians in the Netherlands are sometimes referred to by hyphenated terms such as "Dutch-Iranians", "Iranian-Dutch", "Dutch-Persian", or "Persian-Dutch".
Similar terms ''Iraanse Nederlanders'', ''Nederlandse Iraniërs'', and ''Perzische-Nederlanders'' may be found in Dutch-language media. However, one scholar who uses the term "Dutch-Iranians" also expresses reservations over the validity of such a "hyphenated notion of identity" in the Dutch context, in comparison to the less problematic term "
Iranian American".
Other collective terms used to refer to the community include ''Iraanse gemeenschap'', ''Perzische gemeenschap'', and ''Perzen''.
Migration history
Though the Netherlands had a 'Persian population' since the early seventeenth century, mostly Armenian merchants ("Persianen"), which by the beginning of the nineteenth century had largely dissolved into the larger Dutch population, in more recent times other European countries such as Germany and France have had Persian communities since the early 20th century, most of the Iranian population in the Netherlands is of relatively recent provenance; virtually all came to the country after the Iranian Revolution of 1979.
The overall migration was quite significant relative to the whole size of Iranian emigration to Europe; from 1990–1999, the Netherlands was Europe's second most-popular destination for Iranian asylum seekers, behind Germany.
However, from 1981 to 2001, only 1,292 were formally recognised as "invited refugees" (Uitgenodigde vluchtelingen), the vast majority in the period 1987-1990.
Demographic characteristics
, statistics of the Dutch
Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek showed:
*24,535 Iranian-born persons (13,603 men, 10,932 women)
*6,082 locally born persons of Iranian background (3,159 men, 2,923 women), of which:
**2,491 persons with one parent also born locally (1,321 men, 1,170 women)
**3,591 persons with both parents born abroad (1,838 men, 1,753 women)
For a total of 30,617 persons (16,758 men, 13,855 women). This represented nearly double the 1996 total of 16,478 persons. Numerically, most of the growth was in the foreign-born segment of the population, whose numbers increased from 14,628 over the period in question; however, the rate of growth was fastest in the locally born segment of the population, which almost tripled in size from 1,850 persons.
Religion
Iran is a largely Muslim country, a fact reflected in the backgrounds of Iranian migrants to the Netherlands. However, most migrants do not continue to practise their religion. Those who do often find themselves viewed as threats and suffer exclusion from Dutch society; this trend strengthened with the growth of
political Islam in the 1980s.
In 2007,
Ehsan Jami
Ehsan Jami (born April 20, 1985) is an Iranian-born Iranian-Dutch politician, activist and author who co-founded the former Central Committee for Ex-Muslims. He was previously a member of the Dutch Labour Party (PvdA) before becoming active in ...
, a Dutch politician of Iranian descent, criticised the
Islamic prophet
Prophets in Islam ( ar, الأنبياء في الإسلام, translit=al-ʾAnbiyāʾ fī al-ʾIslām) are individuals in Islam who are believed to spread God in Islam, God's message on Earth and to serve as models of ideal human behaviour. So ...
Muhammad, describing him as a "criminal". Together with Loubna Berrada (founder of the Advisory Committee for Integration, part of the
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy), Jami founded the
Central Committee for Ex-Muslims in 2007. The organisation, supported by
Afshin Ellian, aims to support
apostates from Islam
Apostasy in Islam ( ar, ردة, or , ) is commonly defined as the abandonment of Islam by a Muslim, in thought, word, or through deed. An apostate from Islam is referred to by using the Arabic and Islamic term ''murtād'' (). It includes ...
and to bring forth the reality of
women's rights violations in the religion. On 4 August 2007, Jami was attacked in his hometown
Voorburg by three men. The attack was widely believed to be linked to his activities for the committee. The national anti-terrorism coordinator's office, the public prosecution department, and the police decided during a meeting on 6 August that "additional measures" were necessary for the protection of Jami, who subsequently received extra security.
Education
Iranians in the Netherlands are regarded as one of the highest educated and best integrated ethnic groups, according to various sources such as the
Erasmus University Rotterdam and the
Statistics Netherlands
Statistics Netherlands, founded in 1899, is a Dutch governmental institution that gathers statistical information about the Netherlands. In Dutch it is known as the Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek (''Central Agency for Statistics''), often ...
. Not unrelated, the Iranian academic community has grown significantly, including professors
Turaj Atabaki,
Afshin Ellian,
Halleh Ghorashi
Halleh Ghorashi (also spelled Ghoreishi; born 30 July 1962) is an Iranian-born anthropologist who lives in the Netherlands. From 2005 to 2012, she held the PaVEM chair in Management of Diversity and Integration in the Department of Organization S ...
and
Majid Hassanizadeh.
Discrimination against Iranian students
Due to the Iranian government's nuclear activities,
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1737, which among other matters called on UN member states to prevent Iranian students from receiving specialised training which might be of use to the
nuclear programme of Iran, the Dutch government implemented a variety of restrictions on Iranian students in the Netherlands.
At the recommendation of the government, the
University of Twente went so far as to halt its admissions of students from Iran entirely, stating that it could not ensure they would have no access to nuclear-related information.
However, the government later backed away from this policy. In July, they announced that Iranian students could be admitted but would be restricted from taking certain courses and visiting certain places related to the development of nuclear weapons. In response, a group of Iranian students filed suit against the government, alleging that the restrictions violated the prohibition against all forms of discrimination established by Article 1 of the
Constitution of the Netherlands.
A local court ruled in February 2010 that the University of Twente discriminate against Iranians by refusing their admission due to their nationalities. The case went up to the
Supreme Court of the Netherlands
The Supreme Court of the Netherlands ( nl, Hoge Raad der Nederlanden or simply ''Hoge Raad''), officially the High Council of the Netherlands, is the final court of appeal in civil, criminal and tax cases in the Netherlands, including Curaçao ...
in
The Hague. The final verdict of the Supreme Court confirmed the initial verdict that the ban on Iranian students is discriminatory, unlawful and a breach to European Human Rights treaty and therefore the discriminatory regulations were overruled
Iran Academia
In September 2011, Iran Academia: The Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities was established in
The Hague by a group known as the
Iranian Progressive Youth (IPY). The IPY, which had its origins in the
Iranian Green Movement in 2009, had grown into a network of students and researchers around the world, including in
Europe,
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...
and Australia. Iran Academia was established with the support of Iranian academics worldwide.
Political activities
The first serious conflicts between the
Pahlavi
Pahlavi may refer to:
Iranian royalty
*Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire
*Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979
**Reza Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944 ...
government and students in the Netherlands began in the 1970s. In 1974, a group of Iranians based in the Netherlands and other European countries occupied the Embassy of Iran in
Wassenaar. Another group occupied the embassy in August 1978, and were arrested by the police. Their lawyer stated to Dutch daily ''
Nieuwsblad van het Noorden'' that "Wassenar Police gives information to Persia".
The early migration of political activists and their applications for asylum in the Netherlands following the 1979
Iranian Revolution
The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...
had a major effect on the development of the Iranian community; the suspected links between the Islamic Republic embassies in Europe and the murders of prominent exiles such as the France-based former
prime minister Shapour Bakhtiar
Shapour Bakhtiar ( fa, شاپور بختیار, ; 26 June 19146 August 1991) was an Iranian politician who served as the last Prime Minister of Iran under the Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi. In the words of historian Abbas Milani: "more than once in ...
, as well as rumours of information leaks to the Iranian embassy in The Hague from within the Dutch government, led to suspicion by Iranians both towards their fellow Iranians and towards the Dutch authorities. In 1996, Dutch daily ''
Trouw'' revealed that one fairly prominent man in the Iranian community in Amsterdam, Mahmoed Jafhari (known by the alias "Anoosh"), had been working for the
Iranian intelligence service
The Ministry of Intelligence of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, وزارت اطّلاعات جمهوری اسلامی ایران, Vezarat-e Ettela'at Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran) is the primary intelligence agency of the Islamic Republic of ...
to gather information on exiles; he had recorded on tape every conversation held in his house with his fellow Iranians, a fact which was discovered only after his death. The social environment created by that event has resulted in numerous difficulties for later academic research.
Since the
2009–2010 Iranian election protests
After incumbent president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared victory in the 2009 Iranian presidential election, protests broke out in major cities across Iran in support of opposition candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi. The protests con ...
, the Iranian community in the Netherlands organised many solidarity demonstrations in Amsterdam, The Hague, Delft and Groningen. In January 2010, when the Islamic Republic Embassy in The Hague organized a "Peace Concert" at Rotterdam's De Doelen Concert Hall, it had to be stopped in the middle, because of physical confrontations between angry protesters and the embassy agents.
In April 2010 a group of Iranian and Dutch protesters occupied parts of Islamic Republic Embassy in the Hague in protest to Iran's oppressive and violent policies. During this act of protest, the flag of the Islamic Republic has been lowered and replaced with a banner bearing an image of
Neda Agha Soltan, the woman who was shot to death in Tehran's street protests after the disputed June presidential elections.
In June 2010 the Dutch TV Channel
NOS organized a visit for
Ezzatollah Zarghami, director of
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, to its headquarters in
Hilversum
Hilversum () is a city and municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. Located in the heart of the Gooi, it is the largest urban centre in that area. It is surrounded by heathland, woods, meadows, lakes, and smaller towns. Hilvers ...
.
Radio Zamaneh revealed this news, creating a wave of anger in the Iranian community.
The Hague-based Iranian Progressive Youth Network also published a press release entitled "NOS Welcomes the Terrorist". The event was canceled a few days before the visit. The whole affair was reported in mainstream Dutch media such as ''
NRC Handelsblad
''NRC'', previously called ''NRC Handelsblad'' (), is a daily morning newspaper published in the Netherlands by NRC Media. It is generally accepted as a newspaper of record in the Netherlands.
History
''NRC Handelsblad'' was first published on 1 ...
''.
In 2011, Iran executed
Zahra Bahrami
Zahra Bahrami, also spelled Sahra Baahrami ( fa, زهرا بهرامی; 25 January 1965 – 29 January 2011) (Previous name: Zahra Mehrabi), was a dual Dutch and Iranian citizen who was executed in Iran after being arrested during a politica ...
, a naturalised Dutch citizen of Iranian origin, after holding her in prison since 2009 on drugs charges. The Dutch ambassador in Tehran was not allowed to offer her assistance.
Media
In 2004 the Dutch Parliament agreed with the proposal for allocating 15 million Euros to set up a television station, which would broadcast in the
Persian language. This was the first time that a
European Union country had been involved in establishing a Persian television station on its own.
The Persian-language
Radio Zamaneh began operating in Amsterdam in August 2006 with support from the Dutch
Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...
. The Islamic Republic of Iran has on various occasions criticised the Netherlands for funding the station. During the 2009 public unrest and demonstrations in Iran, Majid Ghahremani, Iranian ambassador to The Netherlands, accused the Dutch government of interfering in Iran's internal affairs. At the same time, a Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman told Reuters that they had decided to continue to provide funding to the radio station, with the aim of improving the situation of
human rights in Iran.
In January 2010 also
Persian Dutch Network has been registered in Amsterdam to introduce Persian culture to Dutch people and make two nations more close to each other. ''PDN'' has also released various videos of cultural events, social gatherings and political demonstrations of Persian community in the Netherlands on the Internet.
Integration and community
Iranians in the Netherlands have founded relatively few community organisations compared to
Turkish
Turkish may refer to:
*a Turkic language spoken by the Turks
* of or about Turkey
** Turkish language
*** Turkish alphabet
** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
*** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey
*** Turkish communities and mi ...
or
Moroccan migrants; this may be due to the general atmosphere of distrust and divisiveness among Iranians abroad.
In contrast to other migrant groups, there is little sense of community among them. Possibly as a result of this, many Iranians have redirected their ideological energies into participation in mainstream Dutch politics; prominent examples include politician
Farah Karimi
Farahnaz "Farah" Karimi ( fa, فرح کريمی; born 15 November 1960 in Hassanabad Yasukand, garuss) is an Iranian-Netherlands, Dutch Politics of the Netherlands, politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), Hous ...
of the
GreenLeft party or commentator and professor
Afshin Ellian.
Women tend to report far lower levels of discrimination than men. However, they still often confront mainstream stereotypes of Muslim women, such as the idea that they are victims of
domestic violence
Domestic violence (also known as domestic abuse or family violence) is violence or other abuse that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. ''Domestic violence'' is often used as a synonym for ''intimate partner ...
in need of emancipation from Muslim men.
Art and culture
* There is an active "Persian Language and Culture" Department at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands.
* There are Persian artists, writers, musicians, etc. who are active in the Netherlands, among them filmmaker
Reza Allamehzadeh and storyteller
Sahand Sahebdivani
Sahand Sahebdivani (born 18 May 1980 in Tehran) is an Iranian–Dutch storyteller, musician and founder of cultural center the Mezrab.
Biography
After the Iranian Revolution, at the age of three Sahebdivani fled with his parents from Iran t ...
.
* In 2006, graphic designer
Reza Abedini
Reza Abedini ( fa, رضا عابدینی , born 1967 in Tehran) is an Iranian graphic designer and a professor. His works keep a modern theme as he blends traditional Islamic patterns, calligraphy and culture. He combines simple illustrations w ...
received 2006 Principal Prince Claus Award.
* In the summer 2008 Amsterdam Branch of Hermitage Museum organized the exhibition "Persia: Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art" for six months.
* Museum Het Ursulinenconvent –
International Museum for Family History / Internationaal Museum voor Familiegeschiedenis in Eijsden, Limburg, has a permanent exhibition on Persian family history and Persian photography. Also in this museum, the harem system is being explained using the Qajar family and dynasty as an example.
Notable people
*
Ali Niknam, Entrepreneur, founder of Bunq &
TransIp
*
Kader Abdolah, author
*
Pejman Akbarzadeh, musician and journalist
*
Sevda Alizadeh, singer
*
Reza Allamehzadeh, filmmaker
*
Touraj Atabaki, Professor of Social History of the Middle East and Central Asia, International Institute of Social History
*
Zahra Bahrami
Zahra Bahrami, also spelled Sahra Baahrami ( fa, زهرا بهرامی; 25 January 1965 – 29 January 2011) (Previous name: Zahra Mehrabi), was a dual Dutch and Iranian citizen who was executed in Iran after being arrested during a politica ...
, convicted of drug trafficking and executed in Iran in 2011
*
Leo Barjesteh
Leonardus Alexander Ferydoun "Leo" Barjesteh van Waalwijk van Doorn (born 18 October 1962 in Rotterdam) is a Dutch-Persian historian, publisher and museum director.
In 1988 Barjesteh established himself as an independent publisher, specialising ...
, historian, publisher and museum director
*
Afshin Ellian, university professor
*
Reza Ghoochannejhad, footballer
*
Farah Karimi
Farahnaz "Farah" Karimi ( fa, فرح کريمی; born 15 November 1960 in Hassanabad Yasukand, garuss) is an Iranian-Netherlands, Dutch Politics of the Netherlands, politician. She was a member of the House of Representatives (Netherlands), Hous ...
, politician and former MP
*
Biurakn Hakhverdian
Biurakn Hakhverdian ( hy, Բյուրակն Հախվերդյան; born 4 October 1985 in Leiden) is a Dutch water polo player who represents the Dutch national team in international competitions. She is of Iranian Armenian descent. , water polo player, olympic gold medalist and former captain of the Dutch national junior water polo team
*
Majid Hassanizadeh, professor of
hydrogeology
*
Gegard Mousasi, mixed martial artist
*
Ali Foumani, art dealer and researcher in Persian Art
See also
*
Iran-Netherlands relations
*
Iranian diaspora
Images
File:Prince-Bernhard-Shah of Persia-Queen Farah-1970.jpg, The Netherlands' Prince Bernhard, Shah of Persia
Iranian monarchism is the advocacy of restoring the monarchy in Iran, which was abolished after the 1979 Revolution.
Historical background
Iran first became a constitutional monarchy in 1906, but underwent a period of autocracy during the years ...
and Queen Farah, Tehran, 1970s
File:DeDoelenPersianProtester.JPG, Angry Persian protester shouts "Death to Islamic Republic" at "Peace Concert" organized by the Islamic Republic Embassy at Rotterdam's De Doelen Concert Hall.
File:A Persian Carpet Gallery in Amresfoort Photo by Pejman Akbarzadeh 2006-oct.JPG, An Old Persian Carpet Gallery in Amersfoort, Central Netherlands
File:Oba-perzischedienst 003.jpg, Persian-language books section at the Amsterdam Public Library
File:Persian Carpet Shop Amsterdam July2010 Photo by Persian Dutch Network.jpg, A Persian carpet Gallery in Old center Amsterdam, July 2010
File:Persian iron wood tree Parottia Persica photo by Pejman Akbarzadeh Persian Dutch Network.jpg, Persian Ironwood Tree, brought from Persia to the Netherlands in 1895
File:A Persian Resraurant in Amsterdam 2006 Photo by Pejman Akbarzadeh.JPG, A Persian restaurant in Amsterdam, 2006
File:Persian New Year Table - Haft Sin -in Holland - Nowruz - Photo by Pejman Akbarzadeh PDN.JPG, Haft-Sin table for Nowruz / Persian New Year Celebration in Uitgeest, 2010
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*. A study of self-stereotyping among Iranians living in the Netherlands.
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
The Information Center of Persian (Iranian) Community in the Netherlands(English & Dutch)
Radio Zamaneh website(English and Persian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iranians in the Netherlands
Ethnic groups in the Netherlands
Islam in the Netherlands
Muslim communities in Europe
Middle Eastern diaspora in the Netherlands
Netherlands