Armenians in the Netherlands

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Armenians in the Netherlands or Dutch Armenians are citizens of the Netherlands of Armenian ancestry. The exact number of Armenians in the country is unknown, since the Dutch Immigration Office only offers data on country of origin. It is unofficially estimated that about 6,000 to 9,000 Armenians live in the Netherlands.

Apart from the contemporary Armenian community spread out over the Netherlands, there was an independent Armenian community concentrated in Amsterdam during the 17th and 18th centuries.

Many Armenian merchants in Amsterdam went to Southeast Asia in the 1800s to trade, and to set up factories and plantations, establishing a community of Armenians in Java.

The Napoleonic wars put an end to the Armenian life in the Netherlands. The city of Amsterdam was almost depopulated after its occupation by the French. A Dutch writer has said in De Amsterdammer, a magazine of the date of August 14th, 1887 that "The story of the Armenian community is a golden page in the history of the city of Amsterdam." In 1713 the city of Amsterdam permitted the Armenians to erect a church of their own. After serving its purpose for about a century and a half, this edifice was closed because of the dwindling of its congregation. In 1874, by order of the Katholikos of Etchmiadzin, the building was sold for 10,000 florins, which was transmitted to him ('A History of Armenia', by Vahan M. Kurkjian, pp. 471). It is probable that the Armenian community assimilated into the wider Dutch nation during the 1800s.

Armenians arrived from Indonesia (the former Dutch Indies in the 1950s), Turkey (1970s), Lebanon (1970s), Iran (1980s), Iraq (early 1990s), Russia and Armenia (1990s).

The largest group of Armenians arrived from Turkey (Diyabakir and Şırnak) in the 1970s as guest workers in chain migration, finding employment in textile plants in Almelo and Hengelo. Currently most Armenians live in the major urban centres in the western part of the Netherlands: Amsterdam, Dordrecht, The Hague, Leiden and Rotterdam. Armenian church services are held in Amsterdam and Almelo.

[edit] Notable Dutch Armenians

Gago Aroetjunjan – kickboxer and Muay Thai fighter
Biurakn Hakhverdian – water polo player, captain of the Dutch national junior water polo team
Ara Halici – plays the emcee in the Dutch version of Cabaret