They are the indigenous population of their ancestral Assyrian homeland in what is today northern Iraq, southeastern Turkey, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran.

Following the Invasion of Iraq in 2003, more Assyrians fled to the UK in the face of increased religious and ethnic persecution from Arab Islamists and Kurdish Nationalists, including bombing of churches, random killings, violent harassment, death threats and kidnappings.

[7] In recent years, the Assyrians have received support from a number of parliamentarians, in particular MP Steven Pound of Ealing and Lord Hylton.

Issues raised included the racial and religious persecution of Assyrians by both Kurds and Arabs, and a brief outline of their history since the "Great Game".

[8] Assyrians received increased media coverage with the kidnapping and death of a Chaldean Catholic Bishop in Iraq.