In his statement yesterday, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated that “they will establish a sovereign Muslim state similar to the Vatican for the Bektashi sect in the capital Tirana, and this will be done in order to protect and promote interfaith tolerance.”
VATICAN MODEL IS BEING CONSIDERED
“The history of the Bektashis is in itself a strong call to grant the sacred see of the Bektashi World Center a status similar to the Vatican,” Rama said at a ceremony to mark the 95th anniversary of the transfer of the holy see from Turkey to Albania.
“A SPIRITUAL STATE WITHOUT POLICE, WITHOUT ARMY, WITHOUT TAXES”
Stating that the symbolic state will be “without walls, police, army, taxes and other features, but a headquarters, a spiritual state”, Rama said: “If established, this region for the Islamic Sufi sect will be one of the smallest states in the world and will have its own administration. “But there will be no taxes, no police, and it will not pose a threat to Albania’s sovereignty,” he said. Rama did not give details about the timing and emphasized that the plan must be approved by the Albanian parliament.
Last year, Rama said that he planned to establish a state in the east of Albania’s capital, which would be used as a Bektashi spiritual center, and that Bektashis were scattered in regions such as Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia.
The Bektashi center, which was founded in the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century, affiliated with Sufism, has been in Albania since 1929 due to the “decision to close the lodges and zawiyas in the Republic of Turkey with the decree dated September 2, 1925.”