Balkan nationalists long treated Muslims as a religious rather than national group

Evidence

So as late as the Second World War, both Serb and Croat nationalists could still make some pretence at treating Muslims as a religious group within their respective nations. This may be compared to the confusion among modern antisemites, until quite late in the day, as to whether Jews were a religious or a racial group. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1070

Categorization

• XREF: Parallels the author’s own earlier theme that both antisemitism and Islamophobia shift between religious and racial framings depending on political convenience. — connects to: Slavic Muslims were redefined as Turkish invaders through religious nationalism — Nadim N. Rouhana and Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, When Politics Are Sacralized:…, 124