Western Armenian is an Indo-European language spoken by Armenians of most of the Middle East except for Iran , and Rostov-on-Don in Russia . It is spoken by only a small percentage of Armenians in Turkey as a first language , with 18 percent among the community in general and 8 percent among younger people . Western Armenian was at one point the dominant Armenian variety . After the Armenian Genocide , Western Armenia was wiped clean of Western Armenians . Those who fled to Eastern Armenia today speak either Eastern Armenian , or have a diglossic situation between Western Armenian dialects in informal usage and an Eastern Armenian standard . The only Western Armenian dialect still spoken in Western Armenia is the Homshetsi dialect , as the Hemshin peoples who speak it did not fall victim to the Armenian Genocide due to being Muslim
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Western Armenian