in 1861 Mikayel Nalbandian, a reformist and secular writer, wrote against the idea that Armenians have preserved their identity because of the church. Indeed, he argued the only reason we haven& #39;t assimilated is that we live(d) among Muslims/under Muslim rule

this is an excerpt from his work Երկու տող (Two lines), published in Paris in 1861. It& #39;s available online ( http://greenstone.flib.sci.am/gsdl/collect/haygirq/book/erku_tox1861_index.html).">https://greenstone.flib.sci.am/gsdl/coll... Here& #39;s the relevant part from the original publication:

to back up his argument, Nalbandian brings the example of Ani Armenians, who ended up in Christian Poland and Muslim Tatar-ruled Crimea and how the former converted to Catholicism and assimilated, while the latter did not. Nalbandian& #39;s descendants came from Crimea btw