By Mustafa Ilker Yücel
Istanbul, autumn 1993. A meeting is underway.
Representatives of the Abrahamic faiths have gathered:
– The head of Türkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs,
– The Secretary-General of the Holy See from the Vatican,
– Patriarch Bartholomew of the Orthodox Church in Istanbul,
– The Chief Rabbi of Israel, and many others…
There was also a wide delegation from Albania: Grand Mufti Hafiz Sabri Koçi, Monsignor Rrok Mirdita of the Albanian Catholic Church, Anastasios Jannulatos of the Albanian Orthodox Church, and Dede Reshat Bardhi of the Bektashi Order.
Archbishop Anastasios Jannulatos proposed recognizing Albanian Bektashism as a new monotheistic religion. The heated debate was brought to an end by Bektashi leader Dede Bardhi: “I will never be part of anything that could cause even the slightest harm to my country. I am a Bektashi. I belong to the Islamic faith.” The attempt to define Bektashism as a religion separate from Islam was thus stopped, at least for the moment.
We know about this meeting thanks to Albanian diplomat Mal Berisha. “They tried to sow the seeds of division among us,” he says of the meeting.
Today, Albanians are facing a second attempt to sow those seeds. This time, the plan was announced by the prime minister himself!
On September 21, 2024, The New York Times published an article by Andrew Higgins titled “Albania Plans to Create a New Muslim State Inside Its Capital.”
A day later, on September 22, 2024, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama himself raised the plan for a Bektashi state from the podium of the United Nations.
Rama claimed that the new state would become a center of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
The Albanian government plans to turn the roughly 11-hectare site housing the World Bektashi Headquarters in Tirana into an independent state.
The proposed country, approximately one-quarter the size of the Vatican, would be called the “Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order”.
It would have its own borders, passports and administration. Baba Mondi is expected to assume both its religious and political leadership.
Baba Mondi, whose real name is Haji Dede Edmond Brahimaj, is the religious leader who has headed the World Bektashi Headquarters in Tirana since June 11, 2011.
But what happened after these developments in 2024?
No official announcements followed. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is currently preoccupied with trying to quell the anger at him in the streets.
The striking new information on the issue appeared in the French publication Intelligence Online on August 18. The report wrote that preparations for establishing the Bektashi state had accelerated, with work underway on a currency, passports and diplomatic missions.
According to the report, Christopher Hyland, a former political adviser to Bill Clinton, has been actively involved in the process. A businessman of Albanian origin Hazis Vardar is in the leading position.
On August 23, the Dutch newspaper NRC took a closer look at Hyland’s role in the project.. We read in the report that Hyland maintains that the establishment of a Bektashi state is closer than ever before.
The next significant development came on September 7. Paolo Zampolli, US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, met with Baba Mondi in Tirana. Zampolli said he had been briefed on the project by both Edi Rama and Baba Mondi.
Meanwhile, relations between Albania and Israel suddenly began to accelerate.
On October 12, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met with Prime Minister Edi Rama, Foreign Minister Ferit Hoxha and Parliament Speaker Niko Peleshi in Tirana.
A wide-ranging cooperation agreement was signed between Albania and Israel.
On October 25, Alevi-Bektashi leaders from Türkiye who oppose the project gathered in Tirana with Bektashis from Albania and academics who have studied the issue in detail.
The event was organized by the İHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation and İNSAMER. We followed the proceedings from inside the conference hall.
The Bektashism forum, which brought together 19 experts, received extensive coverage in the Balkan press. Statements by the participants featured widely in the Albanian and Kosovar media, as well as in Turkish and Alevi-Bektashi publications.
According to Osman Atalay, a member of IHH’s Board of Trustees who chaired the forum, Rama’s proposal for a microstate has caused unease not only among Bektashi communities but also among Orthodox Christians, Catholics and Sunnis in Albania. Warning that such an initiative could create new divisions in Albania’s multi-religious society, Atalay proposed an “inclusive institutional framework” instead of statehood. “Why shouldn’t it be possible to establish an inclusive Balkan Bektashi Assembly, free from the influence of international politics?” Atalay asked. He suggested creating a platform where Bektashi communities from different countries could come together to discuss their common concerns.
“When religion becomes a state, it ceases to be religion”
One of the most notable speeches at the meeting was delivered by Sheikh Hysen Ali Hormova, leader of the Khalwati Order in Albania.
Hormova emphasized that Bektashism had made significant contributions to Islamic culture throughout its history, from Haji Bektash Veli to Dede Reshat Bardhi, and that it is a part of Islam, opposing the attempts to define Bektashism as a religion separate from Islam. According to Hormova, the fact that Bektashis recognize Prophet Muhammad as their prophet and the Quran as their holy book demonstrates the tradition’s historical place within Islam.
He pointed out that during the Ottoman era, Bektashi tekkes were not merely places of worship, but they also occupied a prominent place in education, art and cultural life.
“When religion becomes a state, it ceases to be religion,” Hormova said, and warned that the proposal for a “religious microstate” could raise questions of equality among Albania’s religious communities.
Professor Süleyman Baki of the State University of Tetovo from North Macedonia approached the debate from a historical perspective.
Baki noted that proposals to establish a Bektashi state in Albania had also been discussed during the final years of the Ottoman Empire, but had never been put into practice. He argued that reviving a similar project today would benefit neither the Muslim communities of the Balkans nor Türkiye.
Baki also discussed the historical role of Sufi traditions such as the Mevlevi, Qadiri, Khalwati and Bektashi orders in the Balkans.
“It would undermine the unity of Alevi-Bektashi communities”
Ali Rıza Özkan, Secretary-General of the Horasan Erenleri Federation of Associations, also voiced his outright opposition to the Bektashi state project.
Özkan talked about the historical roots of Alevism and Bektashism in Anatolia, explaining how the tradition of Haji Bektash Veli had spread to different regions beginning in the 13th century.
He argued that the proposed state in Albania would provide no meaningful political or military power. According to Özkan, such a state would be largely symbolic and could undermine the unity of Alevi-Bektashi communities.
These assessments of Özkan were widely reported in Albanian-language publications in Kosovo and North Macedonia, as well as in Alevi-Bektashi media outlets in Türkiye.
Yolcu Bilginç, Chairman of the Federation of Tahtacı Cultural Associations, was equally critical to the Bektashi state project.
Bilginç made the following comparison in his speech: “Albania has a population of 2.5 million. Roughly half of them, around 1,250,000 people, are Muslims. About one-tenth of the Muslim population, approximately 125,000 people, are Bektashis. In Türkiye, we have 25 to 30 million Alevi-Bektashi citizens. That is approximately 200 times the number living in Albania. Under these circumstances, who can make decisions on behalf of Bektashis, and on what authority? Where did Hünkâr Haji Bektash Veli, the founder of the Bektashi tradition, live, and where is his tomb? In Hacıbektaş district of Nevşehir in Türkiye.”
Bilginç also stressed that countries such as the US, Israel and Britain have always had plans involving religious communities.
Dr. Ajni Sinani argued that states do not share their sovereignty, describing the initiative as part of a comprehensive project that would trigger a process of division.
Another participant, Albanian academic Enis Sulstarova, criticized the fact that the Bektashi state project had been prepared in secrecy.
Theologian Justinian Topulli argued that establishing a Bektashi state is not necessary to strengthen religious tolerance. He also drew attention to reports published by the RAND Corporation on the subject.
Milazim Krasniqi, who considered the initiative a threat to Albanian national unity, described it as “a political conspiracy.”
Journalist Basir Çolaku was equally outspoken: “We are talking about the establishment of a divisive state. This is very dangerous in the Balkans.”
Historian Behar Kaçeli spoke about efforts to “liberalize Islam”.
Historian Syugry Hysi, who discussed the history of the Bektashis, argued that “those now seeking to establish a state are not acting in the service of a faith; they have political objectives.”
INSAMER researcher Riad Domazeti also argued in detail how the plan was designed to divide Muslims.
Returning to the debate mentioned at the beginning of this article: The words of Dede Reshat Bardhi, who opposed attempts to define Bektashism as a religion separate from Islam back in 1993, are once again being recalled.
The idea coming from non-Bektashis has now evolved into a project to establish an independent state in the Albanian capital.
Thirty-three years after that attempt, the “seeds of division” are being sown once again, amid contacts with American diplomats and rapidly expanding relations with Israel…
In light of all this, it is now easier to answer the question: Who needs a state that the Bektashis themselves have not asked for, and why?