Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama plans to establish a sovereign city-state for the Bektashi group, a Shiite Sufi order, in the capital Tirana.
Rama intends to make the microstate like the Vatican, aiming to advance the tolerant Islam that Albania prides itself on.
“We have to nurture this treasure, which is religious tolerance, which we must not waste,” Rama told the US daily The New York Times, as confirmed by the Albanian PM’s media official.
The microstate will have a territory that is a quarter of the size of the Vatican in the middle of Rome, Italy, and will not have the institutions that are usually attached to a sovereign state, such as an army, border guards, or courts.
Rama hinted that the establishment of the country would be officially announced in the near future, although its implementation would take time.
He admitted that the plan was only known to a few people close to him. NATO allies, including the United States (US), have not been informed.
According to the latest Albanian census data in 2023, the country’s Bektashi Muslim population reached 115,000 out of a total population of 2.4 million. (Ant/Z-2)
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