The Bektashi Order has been headquartered in Albania since the 1930s after it was banned in Turkey. Estimates vary, but today there are said to be between 7 and 20 million Bektashis around the world.

The Bektashi Order has been headquartered in Albania since the 1930s after it was banned in Turkey. Estimates vary, but today there are said to be between 7 and 20 million Bektashis around the world.

Prime Minister Edi Rama says he wants to give members of the Bektashi, a Shiite Sufi order, their own Vatican-style enclave as a way of promoting religious tolerance.

Item 1 of 2 A drone view shows the Bektashi World Center where Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama plans to create a Vatican-style state for the Islamic Bektashi Order in Tirana, Albania January 25 ...

MARX: Edmond Brahimaj - known as Baba Mondi - heads the Bektashi order, an Islamic religious movement that exists in Albania and several other countries.

The Bektashi Order, making up about 10% of Albania's Muslims, reportedly will receive sovereignty similar to that of the Vatican, governing religious and administrative issues independently of Albania ...

An offshoot of the Sufi sect of Islam, the Bektashi Order was established in the 13th century, and combines "a loose interpretation of the Quran with mysticism, elements of Turkey's pre-Islamic ...

The Bektashi Order, a Sufi Islamic sect that traces its origins to the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century, has had its global headquarters in Albania since 1925.

If all goes to plan, the so-called "Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order" will become the world's smallest state, just a quarter of the size of Vatican City.

The order was founded in the 13th century in the Ottoman Empire and is regarded as a tolerant, mystic branch of Islam open to other religions and philosophies. The proposed State of the Bektashi ...

Reuters. A drone view shows the Bektashi World Center where Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama plans to create a Vatican-style state for the Islamic Bektashi Order in Tirana, Albania January 25, 2025.