Albania’s Prime Minister wants to set up a miniature state in the capital Tirana for the moderate Muslim Sufi order of the Bektashi. The Vatican serves as a model – and there is criticism.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama wants to establish a sovereign mini-state within his country based on the Vatican model. It is to be established in Albania’s capital Tirana and run by the Muslim Bektashi order. However, it will take a long time before it is implemented because of the necessary changes to the law, Rama wrote on the X platform.
Rama first briefly presented his idea on Sunday at the United Nations Future Summit in New York, completely surprising most of his compatriots.
Own borders, administration and passports planned
The leader of the Bektashi order in Tirana, Edmond Brahimaj, expressed his enthusiasm: the “excellent initiative” will usher in “a new era of religious tolerance and the promotion of peace.” The Bektashi “Vatican” is to be built in Tirana on an area of around ten hectares at the “Bektashi World Center” currently located there, with its own borders, administration and passports.
The Sunni Dervish Order, which was founded in the 13th century, was widespread in the Ottoman Empire and moved its center to Albania after it was banned by Kemal Atatürk in 1925. Currently, about 50 percent of Albanians profess Islam – 10 percent of whom are Bektashi. The rest stated in the last census in 2023 that they were Roman Catholic or Orthodox Christians.
During communism, the practice of religion in any form was forbidden in Albania. Brahimaj was an officer in the Albanian army from 1982 until the fall of communism.
Criticism from Albanian Muslims
The umbrella organization of Muslims in Albania, KMSH, sharply criticized Rama’s idea. It endangers “religious harmony.” “Such initiatives can set a dangerous precedent for the future of the country,” it said in a statement to Albanian media. Rama had not previously consulted either the KMSH or the Interreligious Council of Albania.
The constitution of the NATO country, which is striving to join the EU, also stipulates that the country is “united and indivisible”. The constitution can be changed with a two-thirds majority in parliament.
Rama wrote on X that the project was intended to “preserve and enrich the priceless treasure of tolerance and religious harmony, for which the Bektashi order, irreplaceable alongside the other three faiths, has its merits and role.” He accused his critics of “hellish ignorance and brutal negligence.”
Source: Stern
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