text: History There have been various Turkish migration waves to the Netherlands from all modern nation-states which were once part of the Ottoman Empire and which still consist of ethnic Turkish communities. The majority of Dutch-Turks have immigrated from (or descend from) the Republic of Turkey. However, there are also significant ethnic Turkish communities which have come to the Netherlands from the Balkans (especially from Bulgaria, Greece, and North Macedonia), Cyprus, the Levant (especially from Iraq), and North Africa. Due to the European migrant crisis a substantial number of ethnic Turks have also arrived from Syria and Kosovo. Moreover, many Turkish-Belgians and Turkish-Germans in the diaspora have also come to the Netherlands as Belgian and German citizens.
  Turkish migration from the Ottoman Empire
  The first Turkish settlers in the Netherlands dates back to the 16th century, when Ottoman Turkish traders settled in many Dutch and Flemish trading towns. The English traveller Andrew Marvell referred to the Netherlands as "the place for Turk, Christian, heathen, Jew; staple place for sects and schisms" due to the religious freedom and the large number of different religious groups there. References to the Ottoman state and Islamic symbolism were also frequently used within 16th century Dutch society itself, most notably in Protestant speeches called hagenpreken, and in the crescent-shaped medals of the Geuzen, bearing the inscription "Rather Turkish than Papists". When Dutch forces broke through the Spanish siege of Leiden in 1574, they carried with them Turkish flags into the city. During the Siege of Sluis in Zeeland in 1604, 1,400 Turkish slaves were freed by Maurice of Orange from captivity by the Spanish army. The Turks were declared free people and the Dutch state paid for their repatriation. To honour the resistance of the Turkish slaves, Prince Maurice named a local embankment "Turkeye".