Israeli Project: How Albania Plans to Create an Islamic Version of the Vatican Within Its Borders

The Albanian government is planning to create a sovereign state for the Bektashi, a Sufi Muslim order, occupying several hectares in the capital city of Tirana.

According to an article in the New York Times, Prime Minister Edi Rama wants to offer Bektashi an enclave like the Vatican.

In the same context, the Muslim Community of Albania strongly criticized Rama's plan to establish a small, sovereign Islamic state within his country, describing it as endangering religious harmony.

It is noteworthy that the Bektashi religious heritage is influenced by different religious movements that are not limited to Islam only, such as Christianity.

Sovereign State

Recently, search engines have been asking about what is the Bektashi sect that seeks to establish an Islamic state in Albania, especially after Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced that his government plans to establish a small sovereign state within the borders of the capital Tirana for the Muslim Bektashis.

PM Rama (a Catholic Christian) said that “the aim of the new state was to promote a tolerant version of Islam on which Albania prides itself.”

Rama first outlined his idea during a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, 2024, calling for the UN to recognize it.

The Bektashi community in Tirana hailed the decision, saying in a statement that “Bektashi sovereignty is an important step in promoting the values of inclusiveness, religious harmony, and dialogue in a divided world.”

Albania has a population of about 2.4 million, with about 50% Muslim, the rest Catholic, Orthodox, and other smaller sects, and is known for its religious harmony and peaceful coexistence.

Bektashis make up about 10% of the country’s Muslim population, according to a 2023 census published by Albania. 

They are the fourth-largest religious community in Albania after Sunni Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Catholics.

The so-called ‘Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order’ would be the smallest country in the world, only about a quarter the size of Vatican City. It will also have its own administration, passports, and borders.

Baba Mondi

The leader of the Bektashi sect, known to his followers as Baba Mondi, is set to be the leader of the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order.

Baba Mondi has described Albania’s plan to create a Bektashi state as a miracle.

He has expressed hope that the United States and other Western powers will recognize his country’s sovereignty if parliament approves the prime minister’s plan.

“We deserve a state,” he said. “We are the only ones in the world who practice true Islam, and we do not associate religion with politics.”

Baba Mondi, 65, is a former Albanian army officer.

Baba Mondi has previously said that Muslim extremists who set off bombs and use violence to spread their version of the faith are nothing more than cowboys.

Bapa Mondi has campaigned against extremism following the 2015 gun attack on the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The Bektashi leader traveled to Paris with Prime Minister Rama to join the march against terrorism.

A team of legal experts, including international lawyers, is currently drafting legislation that would define the new state’s sovereign status within Albania.

The legislation would need to be approved by parliament, which is controlled by the ruling Socialist Party. It is unclear which countries, if any, would agree to recognize Bektashi sovereignty.

Bektashi Muslims

As for the Bektashi presence worldwide, they are mainly concentrated in Albania, but also in Turkiye, Greece, Iran, the United States, and other countries.

The United States is home to a Bektashi Tekke founded in 1954 and located in Detroit.

The Encyclopaedia Britannica says that Bektashi is a Sufi order founded in the 13th century by an Iranian man named Haji Bektash Veli.

However, it was founded as a movement with foundations and rituals in the second half of the 15th century by a Turkish man named Balim Sultan.

The Bektashi order originated in Anatolia during the Ottoman Empire, and penetrated the Janissary Corps, one of the main divisions of the Ottoman army.

After that, Bektashi grew in the Balkans and beyond, and spread especially among Muslims in Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, and Greece.

In 1925, the leadership of the Bektashi sect moved to Albania, specifically when all Sufi sects in Turkiye were dissolved by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Turkish Republic.

In 1967, Albania’s communist leader Enver Hoxha banned all religions in Albania, shrinking the Tirana Bektashi complex by two-thirds.

After the collapse of communism in 1991, the ban on religious practice was lifted, and religious communities, including the Bektashi, began to try to reestablish themselves.

The Bektashi community subsequently declared its separation from the predominantly Sunni Muslim community in Albania, a separation that was legalized by the Albanian authorities.

Since 2001, the Bektashi community has enjoyed full autonomy as the fourth religious institution in Albania. According to one study, there are 173 Bektashi Tekkes in Albania.

Religious Community

The Bektashi order is a religious mixture that combines a loose interpretation of the Qur’an with the adoption of some Sufi and Shiite beliefs, in addition to legacies from Turkish beliefs.

Some scholars believe that Bektashi is also similar to what is called Gnosticism, a group of ideas and beliefs that mix Judaism and Christianity that appeared in the late first century AD.

According to a study by researcher Brian Williams published by the University of Wisconsin in 2001, Bektashi is a method that combines Sufism and Shiism.

In turn, the British writer Harry Sinclair saw the Bektashi order as the most liberal of the Sufi orders, as it is based on loose spiritual principles, and rejects what it calls rigid doctrine.

The Bektashi order also shares with other Sufi movements the need for a special spiritual guide. In harmony with Christians, the Bektashis call their spiritual guide the Baba.

The Bektashis believe in the so-called concept of the unity of existence, which was developed by Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi, which most Muslim scholars consider this a false concept because it does not differentiate between the Creator and the created.

On its Shiite side, Bektashi is also considered to be imbued with Shiite concepts, such as the excessive sanctification of the Commander of the Faithful Ali ibn Abi Talib, may God be pleased with him.

The Bektashis also celebrate the Persian Nowruz as the birthday of Imam Ali, and they are keen to commemorate Ashura (the anniversary of the killing of Hussein, may God be pleased with him), and they have special rituals on this occasion.

The Bektashis do not limit themselves to mixing Sufism and Shiism, but they add things influenced by other religions, especially Christianity, and they have something similar to the Trinity and indulgences.

Israeli Project

Recently, much criticism has been directed at Bektashi and its leader, especially regarding his position on the Al-Aqsa flood and the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

On October 7, 2023, the leader of the Bektashi community sent a letter to “Israel”, through its ambassador to Albania, expressing his condemnation of Al-Aqsa Flood.

However, the letter’s lack of any condemnation of Israel’s genocide against Muslims and the systematic desecration of their sanctities, most notably the Al-Aqsa Mosque, sparked much criticism at the time.

According to The Jerusalem Post, Baba Mondi stated that he has visited “Israel” several times.

“I know Israel and I consider myself a brother of the people of Israel,” he told the newspaper.

It seems that the Bektashi community’s relationship with “Israel” is deep-rooted. 

The community’s official website also published news on October 29, 2020, about a meeting between the community’s leader and representatives of Jewish associations, during which the strength of relations between “Israel” and the community was emphasized.

In March 2021, Jewish journalist Benny Ziffer visited the headquarters of the Bektashi sect in Albania and met its leader.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz published an article at the time that considered the Bektashi rituals to be similar to the rituals of a Jewish movement called the Sabbatarians, which he described as religious in appearance only, and that they practiced all kinds of immorality among themselves.

These suspicious relations prompted Turkish media to raise doubts about what is currently being planned, as Melih Altinok, a journalist for the Turkish newspaper Sabah, considered the intended Bektashi state to be an Israeli project.

He pointed out that this project was not born overnight, as the U.S. and “Israel” have had influential activities in the Balkans for 30 years.