At the moment it is just an initiative, a plan moving on the slippery ground of projects, but the idea is so strong that it has already attracted the attention of the whole world. Albania activated its administrative mechanism for the establishment of a new state in Europe. And not just anyone. What Prime Minister Edi Rama wants to establish is a microstate located on a handful of hectares east of his capital, Tirana – the most “micro” state in the entire world.

It is hard not to think of the Vatican when imagining a new sovereign nation with its own administration, borders and passport. And not just because of the (micro)size issue. The new nation will serve as the headquarters of the Muslim religious sect while it waits for its details to be finalized.

A new state in Europe? This is what Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who has been in office for more than a decade, desires. In his speech to the UN General Assembly a few weeks ago, the leader announced his desire to create a new, sovereign microstate at the heart of his country, which would, in some sense, follow in the footsteps of the Vatican in Italy. Of course, with one important difference.

Since no further details are known, the new nation will be called the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order, which gives a rough idea of ​​what the focus will be. The region will become the institutional home of the Bektashi, a Muslim religious group that emerged in Anatolia in the 13th century and was forced to leave Turkey and move to the Balkans at the beginning of the 20th century.

A few blocks from New York. If Rama achieves his goal, the new microstate will have a distinctive merit: it will be the smallest in the world, allowing adventures of dubious legitimacy such as Sealand in the North Sea. The area is estimated to be between 10 and 11 hectares; that’s a quarter the size of Vatican City. Vatican City currently holds the Guinness record for the smallest independent country on the entire planet, with a surface area of ​​approximately 44 hectares.

To give us an idea, the new microstate that Edi Rama wants to promote will occupy the same area as five blocks of New York City, a small piece of land located east of the Albanian capital. If all this continues, of course.

Sovereign and passport holder (green). Although the project is still in its early stages and several political and social hurdles need to be overcome for it to become a reality, we already know some of the details of the project. The nation of the future is planned as a sovereign territory with its own administration and passports for its citizens; but the Swiss Information Agency states in advance that this will be reserved for only a handful of people, namely clergy and staff in their institutions.

But how many will there be? Will there be many people with citizenship? A little? chronicles currently reserved for international media within the scope of the BBC or New York Times They talk about how the nation of the future will have no army, no border guards, no courts. At the forefront will be Baba Mondi, the leader of the Bektashis, who a few days ago assured the American newspaper that the Muslim microstate would probably need an intelligence service. “Because we have enemies too,” he justified. Another detail was agreed upon: Their passports would be green, an important color in Islam.

But… Why? Million dollar question. The details of the new microstate may be the most curious thing about the project, but there is a more relevant question: Why should it be created? What’s the point? So why did the Albanian prime minister decide to launch such a strange initiative? Rama was clear in his speech at the UN meeting. What he seeks is “a new center of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.” And he believes the best way to achieve this is through a small nation centered on Bektashis, an offshoot of Sufism.

“Religious tolerance”. Rama reminded that Albania had left “several good examples of the defense of humanity” in the last decade by welcoming its Jewish population during the Holocaust or Afghans when the Taliban took control of the country, and that a microstate like the one he proposed would encourage this development. In a recent interview, he said, “We must protect the treasure of religious tolerance and never underestimate it,” claiming that he would send a clear message: “Don’t allow this.” The stigmatization of Muslims defines who Muslims are.

So who are the Bektashis? The other big question, where the previous one will not be well understood. Bektashis are an ancient religious group of Anatolian origin, whose roots date back to the 13th century. However, almost a century ago they moved their headquarters from Turkey to the capital of Albania. However, his greatest feature is not his history, but his belief. A few days ago, its leader Edmond Bahimaj, known among his followers as Baba Mondi, said: “God does not forbid anything, that is why he gave us wisdom.” New York Times.

Therefore, although it is proposed as a Muslim theocratic state, it would not be unreasonable to find alcohol in the future country that Rama wanted to establish in Tirana, and there would be no discrimination based on gender or dress codes. Women will be free from strict impositions or the obligation to cover themselves, and will be able to go out in (a few) clothes that they think best suit them. scarf or burqa.

Love, kindness… “All decisions will be made with love and kindness,” assures Mondi, who is now 65 and serves as an officer in the Albanian army. New York Times The religious leader has shown his disdain for rigid dogma and violent Muslim extremists. “They just cowboys”. Their interpretation of Islam led many conservative Shiites and Sunnis to view the Bektashis as heretics.

“Shiites and Sunnis reject them because they say they deviate too much from the true message of the Quran,” Ignacio Gutiérrez de Terán, professor of Arab and Islamic Studies at the Autonomous University of Madrid, told the BBC.

“The Bektashi Order, known for its message of peace, tolerance and religious harmony, will gain sovereignty similar to that of the Vatican, which will allow us to govern religiously and administratively autonomously,” the organization said in a statement. Quote from DW. In his view, the order’s attainment of sovereignty would allow it to “strengthen inclusion and harmony.”

…and above all the discussions. It did not take long for Rama’s proposal to spark controversy. And not just for Bektashis. The Albanian leader was embarrassed that the proposal was made public and first leaked to parliament. New York Times and was later launched using the loudspeaker of the UN General Assembly, without being discussed, for example, in the Interfaith Council of Albania. The initiative also drew attention to the weight that Bektashis have in Albanian society.

BBC shows that, according to the 2023 census, in Albania, which has a population of 2.76 million today, approximately 50 percent of the population is Muslim and the majority is Sunni. Approximately 10% will belong to the Bektashi community. The rest of the religious population is Christian, Catholic or Orthodox.

Is it a political movement? There are those who question the Prime Minister’s real motivation beyond his desire to establish a new “center of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence”, as he advocated before the United Nations. Some critics see much more mundane reasons, such as Rama’s strategy to woo the community’s voters on the eve of the 2025 elections, a way to regain his popularity or boost Albania’s entry into the EU, or even an attempt to attract Middle Eastern investment.

“The Prime Minister has a tendency to pursue extraneous causes in order to distract public attention from the issues that really matter to society,” Artan Hoax, a professor at the BBC in Pittsburgh, decried.

Will it help religious tolerance? As Albert Rakipi, president of the Albanian Institute of International Studies, put it, this idea has supporters who consider it a “good initiative” to promote cooperation, coexistence and tolerance. But there are also detractors. Before going any further, the Muslim Community of Albania does not seem to be very happy with this idea, warning that it sets a “dangerous precedent” and has been launched without seeking consensus first.

“There is no basis to claim that this so-called Bektashi State will have a positive impact on the climate of tolerance in the region,” warns Besnik Sinani, a researcher at the Center for Muslim Theology at the University of Tübingen. In his view, this is “an unprecedented example of contemporary religious engineering” and any comparison with the Vatican “does not stand up to historical analysis.”

Do you have the means? Of course it won’t be easy. The proposal aroused interest far beyond Albania’s borders and a few days ago TNYT He assured that a team of experts is already in place to draft legislation that will define the status of the new microstate. But to move forward, the measure will need to overcome several hurdles. First, the limitations reflected in the Albanian Constitution itself, which makes clear in Article 1(2) that the republic is a “unitary and indivisible State”.

To change this point, the support of two-thirds of the legislators, that is, the majority of the 94 votes of the 140 deputies in the Parliament, is required. Rama is strong in parliament, but his party can only reach 75 seats. And the opposition is less than enthusiastic about a measure that, as Sali Berisha, leader of the Democratic Party and the country’s former prime minister, put it, aims only to “distract public opinion from other problems such as population decline.” If the measure continues, another important question is which countries will recognize the Bektashi microstate.

Pictures | Xiquinhosilva (Flickr) 1 and 2 and Kryegjyshata Boterore Bektashiane

in Xataka | Couto Mixto, independent and forgotten microstate that existed for centuries between Spain and Portugal