Multiple travelers commented on its ethnic composition in the 19th and early 20th century . The city 's population is made up of around 340,000 inhabitants , and consists mostly of Kurds with a significant Assyrian community as well . The Assyrians of Duhok boast one of the largest churches in the region named the Mar Marsi Cathedral , and is the center of an Eparchy . Tens of thousands of Yazidi and Assyrian Christian refugees live in the city as well due to the ISIS invasion of Iraq in 2014 and the subsequent Fall of Mosul and the Nineveh Plains region after two more months of fighting , in addition to the Siege of Sinjar in which 5,000 Yezidis were massacred in what has been referred to as a genocide against them
a genocide against them
Genocide of Yazidis by ISIL
Duhok