Yes, you are correct there are people who live at higher altitudes, as I found poking around the net after I posted. But only in areas where their ancestors have lived at high altitudes for 5,000 - 10,000 years (the Andes and Tibet, basically). There is no evidence that any of the peoples who live in the area (Turkey) have lived at those high altitudes for such a long time.
But, in the end, I didn't really disagree with you - there is no solid proof it is Noah's ark - just the possibility that it is a structure that would fit with the Biblical account and for which no other ready explanation is at hand.
It actually doesn’t matter that there aren’t other settlements in the area near that altitude. If this was a settlement, it’s most likely a failed one, given the fact that other settlements didn’t crop up.
But it doesn’t even have to be a settlement. It could be temple of some type. Man has done some fascinating and improbable things throughout the ages: Stonehenge, the pyramids at Giza, Machu Picchu, etc. Who is to say that this wasn’t an attempt at greatness? Some high altitude attempt to reach the heavens?
Heck - I’m more inclined to believe it if someone said this was the “Tower of Babylon.” They tried to build so high that God cast them down and sent the settlers so far apart that they eventually adopted different languages.
But the Ark thing is flimsy at best.