Muslims by nationality was a term used in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to describe mainly native Slavic Muslims. In connection to the national rebirth and awakening in Yugoslavia during the 1990s they are now officially historically recognized as Bosniaks, Gorani, Torbesh, etc. However some people still consider themselves to be Muslims by nationality.

The Yugoslavic "Muslim by nationality" policy was considered by Bosniaks to be neglecting and opposing their Bosnian identity. To quote Bosnian politician and president Hamdija Pozderac: "They don't allow Bosnianhood but they offered Muslimhood. We shall accept their offer, although the name is wrong, but with it we'll start the process." - (In discussion with Josip Broz Tito in 1971 about constitutional changes which recognized Muslims (later Bosniaks).

The Constitution of SFRY recognized narodi (nations—native peoples which were explicitly named in the Constitution, giving them special privileges) and narodnosti (nationalities—minorities). In a debate that went on during the 1960s, many Muslim Communist intellectuals argued that Muslims of SFRY are in fact a native Slavic people. As a compromise, the Constitution was amended in 1968 to list Muslims by nationality. Sometimes other terms, such as Muslim with capital M were used (that is, "musliman" was a practicing Muslim while "Musliman" was a member of this nation; Serbo-Croatian uses capital letters for names of peoples but small for names of adherents).

After the 1990s, most of these people, around two million, mostly located in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the region of Sandžak, declare as ethnic Bosniaks (Bošnjaci, sing. Bošnjak).

On the other hand, some still use the old name Muslimani (Muslims), especially outside Bosnia and Herzegovina:

• In Serbia, the census of 2002 that covered Central Serbia and Vojvodina (but not Kosovo and Metohija) registered 19,503 Muslims by nationality and 136,087 Bosniaks.
• In Montenegro census of 2003, 24,625 (3.97%) of the population have declared as Muslims by nationality, while 48,184 (7.77%) have declared as Bosniaks.
• In the Republic of Macedonia, the census of 2002 registered 17,018^[1] Bosniaks and the number of Muslims by nationality was much less than that. It is also important to note that most members of Pomaks and Torbesh ethnicities also declared as Muslims by nationality prior to 1990.
• The Croatian South Slavic Muslim community, per census 2001, is divided between around 20,000 people who still declare themselves as Muslims by nationality, around 20,000 who declare themselves as Bosniaks, and around 10,000 who declare themselves Croats of Islamic faith.
• In 2002 Slovenia census, 21,542 persons have declared as Bosniaks, while 10,467 as Muslims by nationality.^[2]

See also

• Bosniaks
• Slavic Muslims

References