| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 30.000[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Twente,Amsterdam and surroundings | |
| Languages | |
| Aramaic (Surayt andSuret) Dutch | |
| Religion | |
| Syriac Orthodox,Assyrian Church of the East,Chaldean Catholic |
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| Assyrians |
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| Assyrian culture |
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Assyrians in the Netherlands (Dutch:Assyriërs in Nederland) are Dutch citizens ofAssyrian. They mainly live in the east of the country, in the province ofOverijssel, in such cities asEnschede,Hengelo,Rijssen,Almelo andBorne. The main reason that the Assyrians are concentrated there is because it is an industrial area which lies at theGermany–Netherlands border, where a large German Assyrian population resides. Many Assyrians in the Netherlands have relatives in Germany.
The first Assyrians came to the Netherlands in the 1970s as a result of fights between thePKK and the Turkish army. Most of them were from the province ofMardin in southeasternTurkey, where the aforementioned conflict took place. In the 1980s, Assyrians fromSyria, with almost all of them being from the originally Assyrian city ofQamishli (Syriac: ܒܬ ܙܠܝܢ Bet Zalin), began to emigrate to the Netherlands. The latest group of Assyrians to migrate to the Netherlands are fromIraq, and they have been arriving there since the firstGulf War. The large majority of Turkish and Syrian Assyrians in the Netherlands belong to theSyriac Orthodox Church since they are from the western part of theAssyrian homeland, where the Syriac Orthodox Church is the most prominent.
In the 1980s, as with other immigrants in Europe, a strong feeling of nationalism started to develop among the Assyrians in the Netherlands. This sentiment started to make Assyrians be active in working for projects that helped them preserve their identity. A few projects that started out were Assyrian society building, Assyrians churches and Assyrians language classes, which were being given in Dutch schools to Assyrian children and also on weekends in so-called Bible school classes. They also started camps for Assyrians youth and Assyrian music and dance classes were offered in the community. For adult Assyrians, lectures on society building and many social events were organized. Since 1981 there has been aSyriac Orthodox monastery in the villageGlane near the German border.
The Assyrians began to organize demonstrations to bring their situation in theAssyrian homeland to the attention of the media and to bring the 20th centuryAssyrian genocide to the attention of the Dutch government.
The Assyrians have managed to both integrate into Dutch society and maintain their own ethnic identity, as there are a lot of social events organized by Assyrian clubs. Some of the latest projects which Assyrians in the Netherlands have started are: the Seyfo Center, the Assyrian Church Choir, representation of Assyrians in the Dutch government (such asAttiya Gamri), and the foundation of the Assyrian Youth Movement (AJF).
Assyrians in the Netherlands mostly belong toSyriac Orthodox Church, but there is also a small community belonging to theAssyrian Church of the East,Chaldean Catholic Church andSyriac Catholic Church. The first Assyrians mainly worked in factories or opened restaurants, but today, mostly attend university and work in all sectors of the economy.
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