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 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 to 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" (), 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, a Dutch politician of Iranian descent, criticised the Islamic prophet 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 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. Not unrelated, the Iranian academic community has grown significantly, including professors Turaj Atabaki, Afshin Ellian, Halleh Ghorashi and Majid Hassanizadeh.