| Abstract | This article sheds light on the nature of the Turkish denial of Armenian mass killings. A survey study investigates Turkish students' construals (i.e., attributions of responsibility and perceived severity of harm) of Turkish massacres of Armenians at the beginning of the 20th century. The results demonstrated a high correspondence between participants' individual construals and the Turkish official narrative of the events. Structural equation modeling indicated that in-group glorification, perceived in-group threat, and positive attitudes toward war predicted less acknowledgment of in-group responsibility, which in turn predicted less support for reparations of the harm inflicted on Armenians. The study highlights the influence of government-sponsored national self-images in the production and endorsement of legitimizing narratives of the in-group's violence. The findings call for research that examines the combined influence of psychological and societal mechanisms on people's beliefs about in-group actions.
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