Recognition of Muslims as a separate nation triggered Croatian Islamophobia

Evidence

Thus, when Muslims could no longer be viewed as Islamic Croats and potentially assimilated, they became open to persecution by expansionist Croat nationalism, which switched from Islamophilic to Islamophobic. — James Renton, Ben Gidley (eds.), Antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe, 1079

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A sharp causal mechanism: assimilationism and persecution are two sides of the same coin — the moment a group can’t be assimilated, it becomes eligible for persecution. This is genuinely paradigm-shifting for understanding ethnic conflict.