Inside Albania's planned Muslim microstate

Albania's prime minister has revealed plans to establish a microstate for Sufi Muslims within the country's capital, Tirana. At the UN General Assembly last week, Prime Minister Edi Rama said the enclave for the Bektashi Muslim minority would be "similar to the Vatican" and act as a "new centre of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence". If the plan goes ahead, it would be the smallest sovereign state in the world.

"As often happens in Albania, many experts and the public were completely in the dark about the details of the government's plan," said Deutsche Welle. "For most, the decision came entirely out of the blue."

Edmond Brahimaj, leader of the Bektashi World Order, called the initiative "extraordinary" and "a miracle", but others worry that giving a religious group statehood may disrupt sectarian relations in the country. The proposal "is regarded by political analysts as strange and absurd", said Reporter.al – part of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network.

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What is the Bektashi Order?

Muslims currently make up about half of Albania's population, with Bektashis representing around 10% of that group, according to the 2023 census. The Bektashi population is the country's fourth largest religious group, coming after Sunni Muslims, Catholics and Orthodox Christians.

An offshoot of the Sufi sect of Islam, the Bektashi Order was established in the 13th century, and combines "a loose interpretation of the Quran with mysticism, elements of Turkey's pre-Islamic faiths and devotion to their deceased wise men, known as dervishes", said The New York Times.

The movement was once spread throughout the Ottoman Empire, but after Mustafa Kemal Ataturk established the secular Turkish Republic in 1923, the Bektashis moved their base to Tirana. It is from here that the sect's leader, Edmond Brahimaj, known to followers as Baba Mondi, governs the Bektashi community, and where he is set to head the Albanian microstate when it is created.

What are the prime minister's plans?

The 27-acre proposed microstate covers the movement's existing compound in a residential district of eastern Tirana. Despite being only a quarter the size of the Vatican City, it would have its own passports, administration and borders. Only clergy members and administrative staff will live within the microstate, according to AFP. Rama also said religious lifestyle rules will not be imposed within the state – drinking alcohol will be permitted, and women will be allowed to wear what they like.

The new Bektashi state "won’t have an army, border guards or courts", reported The New York Times, although Baba Mondi has indicated that it "might need a small intelligence service". Members of the sect are "viewed as heretics by many conservative Shias and Sunnis", the newspaper said, and have been "subjected to centuries of persecution in Muslim lands".

Legal experts are drafting legislation to formalise the plan, reported the NYT, which will need a parliamentary endorsement. Making the microstate official may require a constitutional amendment, as the Albanian constitution currently designates the country as "unitary and indivisible".

How has the plan been received?

The Bektashi Order is predictably pleased with the proposal. "The sovereignty of the Bektashi Order is an important step in strengthening the values of inclusion, religious harmony and dialogue in an increasingly divided world," sect officials said in a statement.

But the idea has not been well received across the board, and many analysts have expressed scepticism. Besnik Sinani, a research fellow at the Center for Muslim Theology at Tübingen University, Germany, told DW he thinks the plan is unreasonable, and will disrupt relations between religious groups in Albania.

"Currently, the Albanian government has not offered a single convincing argument to justify such a move," said Sinani, adding that it contradicted the "vision of the founding fathers of Albanian statehood, many of whom were Bektashis".