The Bektashi congresses in independent Albania

Abstract

This study is about the Bektashi Congresses. The first of the Bektashi Congresses was held in 1922 and the most recent Eighth Bektashi Congress was held in 2005. Information is given about the eight congresses held from the First Bektashi Congress to the present day. The Bektashi Congresses took place after the reign of Ahmet Zogu, Communism and Democracy, and each congress provides information about the conditions of the period. The Bektashi Congresses were shaped on the basis of Albanian independence and Albanian nationalism as the first item. The Bektashi Congresses had a structure and programme that supported an independent Albania and the unity of Albanians. Many Bektashi politicians and intellectuals took part in the Albanian independence movement and became the pioneers of Albanian nationalism. The process that started with the closure of Bektashi lodges by Mahmut II and the protection of Bektashi dervishes and fathers who were persecuted, made Albania the centre of Bektashism. After the establishment of the independent Albanian State, the collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, Albanian Bektashis established a new structure and established the World Bektashi Centre. The lands where Albanians lived were out of the Ottoman borders and the Greeks, who occupied the lands where Albanians lived in a short time, persecuted the Bektashis. After the Albanian State was established in 1912 under very difficult and complicated conditions, Bektashis found a more comfortable environment and organised various congresses to organise their sect. This research covers the historical struggles of the Bektashi order in Albania in the last two centuries, its development and the situation until today in the centre of Bektashi congresses.