DIY autonomous zone: Albania announces plan to create a Vatican City-like microstate

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Who knows, something akin to this (with different motivations) might be a trend of the future. (Was CHAZ: Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone a precursor ahead of its time?) A way to deescalate potential civil wars by giving leaders of movements their own their little landlocked patches of land or fiefdoms. Surely most would have to be larger than this or even Vatican City, though -- at least as minimal in area as Pitcairn Island to a max size like Ascension Island or Saint Helena island.
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Albania announces plan to create a Vatican City-like microstate
https://www.euronews.com/2024/09/21/alba...slim-order

INTRO: 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. Albania will transform the Tirana-based Bektashi Muslims, an Islamic Sufi order, into a sovereign state to promote moderation, tolerance and peaceful coexistence, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Sunday.

If all goes to plan, the Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order will become the world's smallest state, just a quarter of the size of Vatican City. The 10-hectare patch of land will have its own administration, passports and borders.

The new state would allow alcohol, permit everyone to wear what they want and impose no lifestyle rules, reflecting the Bektashi Order's tolerant practices. Rama said the aim of the new state was to promote a tolerant version of Islam on which Albania prides itself.

Speaking at the United Nations, Rama pointed out that Albania, a tiny Western Balkan country, saved Jewish refugees from the Nazis during World War II and sheltered Afghans after the Taliban came to power three years ago.

Albanians are also proud of giving to the world the Catholic Church's famed humanitarian, Mother Teresa — born in neighbouring North Macedonia — who “embodied love for humanity,” he said. The Bektashi represent about 10% of Albania's Muslim community, according to the latest census.

The Balkan country of some 2.8 million is known for its religious tolerance in an otherwise divided region... (MORE - details)

[Yazata]

If they are going for the distinction of being the world's smallest soverign state, they will have competition.

The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (better known as the Knights of Malta) have no territory at all. They do have two buildings in Rome here and here which have extraterritoriality in the same way that foreign embassies typically do around the world. They issue their own coins and postage stamps, the coins being of interest to collectors while the stamps are recognized for international postage purposes. And they are a large land owner in Italy where their lands are exempt from taxation.

The Knights of Malta currently have diplomatic relations with 113 countries around the world.

And they have a really extraordinary history, dating back to the Knights Hospitallers of St John of Jerusalem in the Crusades. They were founded in 1048 and officially recognized by the Pope in 1113. After the fall of Acre to the Muslims in 1291, they regrouped on the Greek island of Rhodes in 1310, where they were a powerful naval force during the last years of the Byzantine empire. In 1523 they were forced out of Rhodes after fierce battles with the Turks, and regrouped again on Malta, where they survived until Malta was seized by Napoleon in 1799. They initially hoped to return to Malta after France was defeated in the Napoleonic wars, but Britain refused to give up the islands.

They still sort-of have an army, which doesn't carry arms and is composed of medics. During the world wars they operated several trains outfitted as hospitals to treat wounded soldiers of the combatants. So they have gone back to their thousand-year-old roots as the Knights Hospitallers. They are the last direct remnant of the Crusades still in existence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovereign_...r_of_Malta