Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared with the New York Times in the weekend that a state will be created for the Baktashian religion within the territory of the Albanian capital, Tirana, and since the public opinion has been buzzing about the sudden idea of a Vatican-style enclave, which will be governed by the Bektashi and led by the Albanian Bektashi cleric, Baba Mondi.
Some historians meanwhile say that this is a ‘provocation’.
Prof. Dr. Beqir Meta, says: “Such an idea should have been discussed before in the public opinion, and not told directly in the media in the USA or the United Nations. I think it has the form of a provocation that knowing our nation and our history contains extraordinary dangers.
“The Albanian people have fought hard to build 2 major fundaments in their state formation, the first is religious harmony and tolerance and the second is the removal of religions from the concept of the state, thus building a secular state since the time of Ismail Qemali”. adds Meta.
“Albania is not Italy, and the Vatican is not the Bektashis of Albania. The Vatican was created as a result of great clashes, wars that the church had with national states, with the Catholic peoples themselves, and as a result Protestantism was born, etc. And the Vatican is positioned as a state within an entirely Catholic territory. Italy is a Catholic country, it does not have 4 faiths like Albania. You can’t make such serious jokes with the state for the sake of tourism”, the historian said further on.
The Bektashi order has its beginnings in the 15th century, founded by Haxhi Bektash Veliu, originally from a Greek city.
The rites of Bektashism include both those of Sunni and Shia Muslims, and in the Middle Ages it was mostly embraced by young men serving in the Ottoman army.
Bektashism is widespread in Anatolia and the Balkans, and their center became the capital of Albania, since when Ataturk expelled them from Turkey.
Bektashism is considered the most liberal branch of Islam, while in Albania Bektashi figures have a long history of patriotism and protection of national identity.
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