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| Olde Tyme Religion | ||
| New country that will be the smallest in the world - just a quarter of the size of the Vatican - is set to be created | ||
| 2024-09-28 | ||
| Appeasement A structured 'NoGo' zone [Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Albania plans to establish the sovereign Sufi Bektashi Muslim microstate within the borders of the capital, Tirana, the country's Prime Minister Edi Rama has announced. It will have its own passport, borders, and administration governing religious issues, without Tirana's involvement. The tiny enclave will serve as the political home for Bektashi Muslims - the fourth largest religious community in Albania after Sunni Muslims, Orthodox Christians and Catholics. 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.
'Our inspiration is to support the transformation of the Bektashi World Centre in Tirana into a sovereign state, a new centre of moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence,' Rama said on Sunday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The Bektashi make up an estimated 10 per cent of the country's Muslim population, according to Albania's 2023 census. The Bektashi Order in Tirana praised the decision in a statement which read: 'The sovereignty of the Bektashi Order is an important step in strengthening the values of inclusion, religious harmony and dialogue in an increasingly divided world'. 'Such a historic step aims at recognizing the Beltashi Order as a sovereign, self-governing state, committed to supporting its century-old culture of moderation and spiritual involvement,' it added. Citizenship of the new state of roughly 10 hectares (25 acres) will be limited to members of the clergy and individuals dealing with state administration. Its government would be headed by the Bektashi's leader, Baba Mondi, while a council will monitor its religious and administrative operation. It will see the order receive sovereignty identical to that of the Vatican, governing religious and administrative issues independently of Albania. Mr Rama added: 'Albanians are also proud of giving to the world Mother Teresa who 'embodied love for humanity'. The Bektashi Order originated in the Ottoman Empire in the 13th century and acquired political importance in the 15th century. This came after the order dominated the Janissary Corps, the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops.
One of its members, Ismail Qemali declared Albania's independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1912. Related: Albania: 2024-09-11 Why Not Deport Foreign Criminals Instead of Emptying the Jails? Albania: 2024-09-07 Suspected Islamist threatens German police with machete, shouting ‘Allahu Akbar’ Albania: 2024-09-06 Albanian president's Estonia visit strengthens EU enlargement Related: Bektashi 10/24/2019 Albania says police thwarted attack plot by Iranian terror cell Bektashi 10/13/2009 Albanian imam charged with inciting jihad | ||
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #2 Extradition treaties? |
| Posted by: Griter+Slash1619 2024-09-28 18:47 |
| #1 Quickly getting its postage stamp business going. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2024-09-28 10:41 |