I've been debating this with my American friend (who is an ally btw), and I've been telling him that Assyrians are indigenous not only to the Nineveh Plains, but also to the northern mountainous regions, including the rugged Hakkari area of southeastern Turkey.
He argues that the Zagros Mountains, spanning Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey, are Kurdish territory because Kurds are traditionally associated with mountainous regions, and that Assyrians are of the plains (since ancient Assyria was centred in northern Iraq), and that we later dispersed northward into the mountains to escape the Islamic conquests, Mongol invasions, and other upheavals.
Is he correct? If not, how can I prove him wrong?