Tamils - a Nation without a State

Netherlands - நெதர்லாந்து
- an estimated 20,000 Tamils live in Netherlands-

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Tamils in Netherlands demonstrate on May Day, 2008

Tamils in Netherlands demonstrate in support of Struggle for Tamil Eelam, 29 May 2006

[see also Tamils demonstrate in Australia, Canada, France, Germany,
Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Italy, South Africa]

More than 600 Tamils from across Netherlands gathered in front of the Twedekamer, the Netherlands parliament, in the Hague, the political capital of the Netherlands from 11:45 a.m. till 2:00 p.m. Monday. The leader of the Tamil - Dutch soiidarity group, Savarimuttu Mahendran, talking to media said the Netherlands, once a colonial ruler of Tamil kingdom in the island of Sri Lanka, having a historic knowledge of Tamils sovereign rights, and ruled the Tamil kingdom separately as a nation, should come forward to help the Tamils re-establish their rights. Mr. Anne Verzigl, representing the refugee organisation PRIME, addresses the gathering. Krista van Velzen, Foreign Affairs Committee member and Socialesteshe Partij (SP) parliamentarian, receiving appeal from Sinnaiah Inthiran, President of the Tamil centre for human rights in Netherlands. The Netherlands is also aware of the current state of affairs and has been providing asylumn to Tamils from Northeast Sri Lanka for almost 22 years, Mr. Savarimuttu added.

"Tamils of Northeast, both through their active participation, sacrifices and sustained support to the cause, have entrusted the Liberation Tigers, and placed with them the responsibility of restoring the Tamil sovereignty," Savarimuttu told the media.

The Tamil diaspora, has never accepted the Sri Lankan state as representing their sovereign rights and the Government of Sri Lanka should not be regarded as a state-actor in the context of Tamil national problem, he further said.

The Tamil representatives, the Liberation Tigers and the Government of Sri Lanka, should only negotiate as equal partners to define a path towards a peaceful resolution of the problem, he added.

The representatives of various Tamil organisations and Mr. Savarimuttu, handed over an appeal to Foreign Affairs Committee official and parliamentarian Ms. Krista van Velden. About 75 Tamils live near Twedekamer, the Netherlands parliament in the Hague.

Tamils in Utrecht commemorate Maha Veerar Naal, 3 December 2005