in september 2024, albania’s prime minister announced a plan to create a new sovereign state inside tirana, the capital of the country.

a spiritual microstate, run by the bektashi order, a sufi-inspired religious group. it sounded symbolic. maybe even strange. but it was real.

in this episode, we break down what the bektashi proposal actually is, where it came from, and why it’s raising questions. about power, corruption, religious identity, and what happens when politics uses faith to sell a bigger story.

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