EU representatives: It's still early to make statements on the question of the Bektas Order microstate

News of plans establishing a sovereign state of the Bektashi Sufi order in Tirana, which Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, announced by speaking from the UN General Assembly, have triggered different reactions in the expert ranks. Rama said that the sovereign enclave, which will happen to the Vatican, will be a “centre of new fashion, tolerance and peaceful co-existence”.

Still early for statements

Asked about plans for the Bektashi Order microstate, German Ambassador to Albania Carl Berger, said in a proposal for Deutsche Welle, that it is still early to make statements on the issue.

There are many internal steps that need to be followed before this issue is set up for discussion on the table. And it's not helpful to discuss it or comment it right now. We have a lot of sympathy for the Bektas Order. I've visited Father Monday several times, but the question: whether the state is the proper presentation and whether the international community will recognise it, is something entirely different” told the German ambassador to Tirana Deutsche Welle.

EU: No comment at this stage

Even the European Union delegation to Albania did not prefer to make comments on the issue. We have no comment at this stage. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion is sanctioned in Article 10 of the EU Charter for fundamental rights. Generally. The EU supports tolerance and interreligious dialogue. The EU has no competence to regulate religious issues” was said in response to the media.

Founded during the thirteenth century in the Ottoman Empire, Order Bektas moved its centre to Tirana since 1929.

The Albanian government plans to build on the area of 27 hectares, the micro-state called “the Sovereign State of the Order of Bektas”, which will have its borders, administration and passports.