The Bektashi State in Albania/ "Le Parisien": What will the "Muslim Vatican" be like in the middle of Tirana

2024-09-24 11:14:00, Aktualitet CNA

The Bektashi State in Albania/ "Le Parisien": What will the

The smallest country in the world is about to see the light of day. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, a non-practicing Catholic, announced Saturday in the New York Times column his intention to create a new entity governed by Bektashis to promote a tolerant Islam. A kind of "Muslim Vatican" according to the American media, with an area of ????0.11 km², less than a quarter of the area of ????Vatican City.

Passports and borders

This new state will be located east of Tirana, the capital of Albania, and will serve as a political home for Bektash Muslims, the fourth religious community in Albania after Sunni Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Catholics.

It will have its own administration, passports and borders. A museum telling the story of the Bektashis and a prayer room will also be installed there. The current spiritual leader Baba Mondi, called to become the head of state, also requires an intelligence service. Citizenship will be granted only to members of the clergy and its administration.

Alcohol consumption will be permitted and women will be able to wear whatever clothing they want, according to the tolerant practices of the Bektashi order, a Sufism-influenced branch of Shia Islam that advocates a tolerant and mystical vision of Islam. Religions and philosophies the other.

The believers were persecuted for several centuries

This religious order, founded in 13th century Turkey, was expelled from its territories by the founding father of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. The believers, persecuted for hundreds of years, emigrated to the Balkans and in particular to Albania, where they have settled since then.

"The sovereignty of the Bektashi order constitutes an important step in strengthening the values ??of inclusion, religious harmony and dialogue in an increasingly divided world", - declared the Bektashi Order in a press statement.

"A team of legal experts, including international lawyers, is drafting a text that defines the sovereign status of the new state within Albania," reports the New York Times. Rama's Socialist Party must then approve it. Then the question will be asked which countries will agree to recognize the sovereignty of this new state.