| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| from 40,000 up to almost 100,000[1][2][3][4] | |
| Languages | |
| Kurdish andDutch | |
| Religion | |
| Sunni Islam,Alevi | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Iranian peoples,Kurdish diaspora |
Kurds in the Netherlands (Dutch:Koerden in Nederland;Kurdish:Kurdên Holendayê) may refer to people born in or residing in theNetherlands ofKurdish origin.
There are different accounts for the actual Kurdish population within the Netherlands. "The number of Kurds in the Netherlands is not clear, as the Kurds hold different nationalities (Turkish, Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian) and are categorized on the basis of their nationalities in governmental statistics; the figures run from 15,000 up to almost 100,000."[1] Other sources claim that the number of ethnic Kurds in the Netherlands is around 70,000 people.[5]
The Kurdish community in the Netherlands among which theTurkish Kurds andIraqi Kurds make up the largest group of Kurds in the Netherlands, exceeding the numbers ofIranian Kurds andSyrian Kurds.
In theNetherlands, Kurdish immigrant workers fromTurkey first arrived in the second half of the 1960s.[6] Thousands of Kurdish refugees and political refugees fled from Turkey during the 1970s and onward, fromIraq andIran during the 1980s and 1990s, and fromSyria especially during theSyrian Civil War.[6]
On 6 October 2014, the Kurds in the Netherlands "stormed the national parliament building in The Hague on Monday night in a protest againstISIS" offensive on the Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, known in Kurdish as Kobani.[7]
On 13 May 2015, "Dutch police raided a secret meeting of members of theKurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in the Netherlands".[8] The office of Dutch prosecutors explained "that the KurdishPKK recruits young Kurds in the Netherlands for its armed struggle against theTurkish army".[8]
On 8 June 2015, the Kurds in the Netherlands celebrated the success of "the left-wing pro-Kurdish party, which won 13 percent of the votes in the Turkish parliamentary elections, leading to much joy and celebrations among Kurds.".[9] The Kurdish minority within the state of Turkey "who want more autonomy forTurkish Kurdistan, but Turkey refuses to give it".[9] In October 2019, thousands of Dutch Kurds staged a protest inAmsterdam,Rotterdam andThe Hague overTurkey's military operation in northeastern Syria.[10][11][12]
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