Bismilahi, Rrahmani Rrahim!
In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful!
Dear thousands of Bektashi clerics, and believers! Dear friends and benefactors of the famous Turan tekke! Let me thank you for your participation today and may the blessings of Hajji Bektash Veliu and all the saints of this tekke be exalted by God Almighty and the Ahl al-Bayt to all of us, until the end of the spiritual journey, granting us good luck, for you and your families!
Of course, the 130th anniversary of the re-establishment of the Turan tekke was worth celebrating with wider participation and harmonious activities, intertwined with each other. But for the very conditions of the pandemic we are going through, for the very measures taken by the participating state authorities, in the Bektashi Holy See, we could not undertake further organization. Meanwhile, I pray to the Almighty God to give us the strength and to face situations and return to our social and religious life.
However, we must remember today that the blessed tekke of Turan, founded early in the 16th and 17th centuries, was able to keep the feet of the dervishes, fathers and believers of this region, for whom, the philosophy of Haxhi Bektash Veliu, was more than a religious context. Disseminating the light of faith and brotherhood of Albanians under Ottoman rule, this tekke eventually crossed the shores of this religion, making believers present from all over the South of our Albania.
In particular, it is the occasion to remember in this so modest ceremony, the outstanding contribution of Father Ahmet Turani, who, raised with the national spirit of the previous clergy, from his early youth, inspired the brotherhood of our tariqat. It is a well-known fact that the tekke of Turan, in the period of the Albanian autonomous movement, not only welcomed and protected the patriots of the South of Albania, but also became a center for learning the Albanian language. The name of this tekke, as well as that of the Koshtan tekke, is mentioned in a number of Ottoman documents, as the center of education of generations with pure national feelings.
In the doors and courtyard of this tekke, in the café and its squares rebuilt several times, have left their unpaid traces clerics: father Sejdin Canaj, father Refat Kuta, father Bilal Beqiraj, father Bajram Gapaj, father Ahmet Goxhaj, dervish Demir Shahinaj, dervish Luto Memaliaj and dozens of other clerics, who not only keep alive the wonderful memories of this tekke, but enriched the traditions with even more valuable moral and religious elements. Honor and respect for their work!
Sisters and brothers!
Take this opportunity today, to thank on this marked day, your brother and mine, dervish Mikel Oneja, who in very few years, brought to light the Turan tekke. Relying on the teachings of his myrshid, dede Reshat Bardhi, but also on the wonderful traditions of Turan and Tepelena, dervish Mikeli is increasing this tekke day by day, keeping alive in the first place, the faith in your hearts. Thanks again dervish Mikel! God bless you all!
Amen!
Speech of the Bektashi World Leader,
His Grace,
Haxhi Dede Edmond Brahimaj
