SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. It's not often that plans for an entirely new nation are announced in public without a revolution, civil war, even so much as a spirited debate, but that's exactly what happened recently at the United Nations when Albania's eccentric and increasingly autocratic prime minister discussed plans for a new sovereign religious state. Willem Marx reports.
WILLEM MARX: It's a sunny afternoon on the edge of Tirana. And close to a hospital emergency car park, I'm ducking under a very low green metal door and entering a beautiful garden that, for the last century or so, has been the headquarters of the Bektashi movement here in Albania. The sound of sirens representative of city life in the distance. We're walking across a very calm courtyard up to a large red brick building.
Inside is an elderly man with a wispy white beard, a long green robe and an even longer title.
BABA MONDI: (Through interpreter) I am the head father of the world headquarters of the Bektashi.
MARX: Edmond Brahimaj - known as Baba Mondi - heads the Bektashi order, an Islamic religious movement that exists in Albania and several other countries. It preaches moderation and self-control and is staffed by a hierarchy of devout followers known as dervishes, with Baba Mondi at the top. For the Bektashi, he's akin to the Dalai Lama or even the Pope.
BABA MONDI: (Through interpreter) From a mystical, philosophical and human perspective, Bektashism has been a bridge between East and West. We respect all people, regardless of religion, region, idea, color, ideology or politics. We see them as brothers and sisters.
MARX: And under the new plans that the Albanian prime minister recently proposed, Baba Mondi could soon - like the pope - become the head of a small religious state, almost an Albanian version of the Vatican. Though the two sides still need to work out the details, Baba Mondi says this move will ultimately encourage more moderate religion and also cement his orders' long-term status.
BABA MONDI: (Through interpreter) We need a higher diplomatic and legal status to face the world. Wherever the Bektashis are, they should have their rights, like other faiths.
MARX: The Bektashi were forced to transfer their headquarters from Turkey to Albania a century ago and soon became central to the newly formed independent Albania, according to Beqir Meta, a historian at the country's Academy of Sciences.
BEQIR META: (Non-English language spoken).
MARX: "They are very important and have made a significant contribution to Albanian culture and education," he says. At the same time, they've been one of the most pro-national communities and were often at the forefront in the formation of the Albanian state. But today, Meta says they're no more important or influential than Albania's other religious groupings - Eastern Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics or Sunni Muslims. And he calls the plan unserious, concerned it could disrupt the delicate ethnic and religious balance that was historically hard won and has now held for decades. At a cafe just outside the Bektashi compound, four old friends debate over coffee and the local liquor called raki.
ADRIAN MAKO: (Non-English language spoken).
MARX: "Harmony is maintained by staying as we are," says one Adrian Mako. "We have four religions here. We're very dispersed."
SEJFULLA DAJTI: (Non-English language spoken).
MARX: "The state becomes fragmented," says another, Sejfulla Dajti. "Then Muslims, for example, might rise up and demand a state of their own, and the state splits apart." Albania's prime minister, Edi Rama, announced this proposal without any consultation. And according to political analyst Ben Andoni, not even Rama's closest political allies knew what was happening.
BEN ANDONI: A lot of media people asked them directly, what is this idea? What is this crazy idea? And no one of them did a good answer.
BABA MONDI: (Non-English language spoken).
MARX: Baba Mondi told me this new nation was part of God's plan but acknowledged it was actually the prime minister who would implement it - before proudly showing me around his tiny fiefdom.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Baba.
MARX: A few buildings, a prayer hall, historical exhibitions and several archive rooms housing centuries of an entire religion's past. And beyond an ornate garden and several small fields, 11 hectares in total that might one day become Europe's newest nation state.
For NPR News, I'm Willem Marx in Tirana, Albania. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.