I think religion has more to do with it. The Hamshen Armenians joined the Turkish fold a long time ago. Some of them still might speak Armenian, but they are more or less assimilated and rather hostile if you make any reference to Armenians. My father told me an interesting story about his time when he did his military service in Ordu not far from where the Hamshen Armenians live. There was an Armenian doing his military duty there as well and their squadron came upon a group of villagers who invited them for lunch. When his friend heared the villagers say some words in Armenian, he was amazed and spoke to them in Armenian. The villagers were dumbstruck and asked him which village he came from. When he told him that he was Armenian they said that they are speaking their own language! I don't know if they were aware, but maybe thirty years or so there were still some Armenian Shangri-la's lost in some valleys and unsurpassable mountains. Then there are Kurdified Armenians who still retained their religion. They mostly lived in the Mush area but most of them left for Istanbul and Europe. The best known was the Armenian Varto clan who lived in Varto. They spoke Kurdish and tenaciously clinged to their religion as a reminder of their Armenian heritage. They survived the genocide because they were a respected and most importantly armed clan who would not have themselves pushed around. After the Varto earthquake in 1966 and increasing pressures from other Kurdish clans they moved to Europe. Most of them settled down in Marseilles and Brussels. A few live in Switzerland. They must number around 2000, if I'm not mistaken. I think religion is the main factor for Armenian self-preservation in this regard. Those who stayed in the Armenian Apostolic Church preserved the Armenian ethos and spririt. You can't say the same thing for the Muslim Armenians since they weren't touched, but only an insignificant number of Christian Armenians survived.