Albanian premier defends Vatican-like status for Bektashi Patriarchate

by Anadolu staff

ISTANBUL (AA) - Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Saturday that Albania will give a Vatican-like status to the headquarters inside the country of the Bektashi World Patriarchate, according to media reports.

Speaking at the 95th anniversary Jubilee Conference of the patriarchate’s establishment in Albania, Rama addressed criticism from religious groups who argued the move could undermine their standing.

"There is no need for the Muslim community to think that it will be non-existent, the Catholic or Orthodox (Christian) community isn’t dying out," he said. "This community is on the path to extinction, it is not a prediction, it is happening before our eyes, and therefore the history of the Bektashis is in itself an imposing call to give the headquarters (the new status)."

Rama stressed that the proposed status aims to preserve the Bektashi faith and history, describing it as something that poses no threat to others. “It will not divide or threaten anyone,” he said.

Last year Rama announced plans to establish a “sovereign state” for the Bektashi order – a mystic order of Sufi Islam – in the eastern part of Tirana, the country’s capital.

The proposed plan, expected to be a quarter the size of Vatican City, which is similarly situated in Rome, would lack traditional sovereign features such as an army, border guards, or courts.

Albania's latest census data showed that Bektashis make up some 115,000 of the country's 2.4 million people.