The meeting was held on Friday, December 4, 2020, at the Holy See of the Bektashi World Headquarters, at 10:45 and lasted until 12:10.
Haaretz journalist Benny Ziffer asked the Grandfather some questions, including:
-Islamic philosophy, the division of the Islamic religion into Shiites and Sunnis. Pillars and sects.
-The arrival of the Headquarter for the first time in Tirana and the effort of the Bektashis of Turkey to protect their rights during the rule of Ataturk.
-Are the relations of the Presidency with the Bektashi tekke in the USA competitive, do they have cooperation?
-Bektashis in the world, Europe and the Balkans, the number and ways of cooperation between them?
-Interreligious relations?
-Relation of the Bektashi World Headquarters with Iran?
-History of Bektashi Leaders?
-An explanation of the uniform of the Bektashi clergy according to their rank?
-The woman in Bektashism and its role?
-Explanation of the construction of the Odeon, library, museum, archive and other facilities.
Short CV of journalist Benny Ziffer – Haaretz Newspaper:
Benny Ziffer (born 1953, Tel Aviv), is an Israeli author and journalist. His parents emigrated from Turkey in 1949. In 1895, his grandfather, Albert Ziffer, founded the world’s first Jewish sports team in Istanbul, later called the Maccabi. Ziffer studied French literature and political science at Tel Aviv University. He has two nationalities: Israeli and Turkish.
He began his career as a journalist and literary critic in the daily newspaper Haaretz in 1977 and in 1989 was appointed Editor of the Haaretz literary and cultural supplement, a post he still holds today. He also works as the artistic director of the main Israeli poetry festival in Metulla. Ziffer is a lecturer at Sapir College in the department of cultural studies.
He is an outstanding French translator and translated some of the great French classics into Hebrew, such as Huysmans, Merimee, Gerard de Nerval, Apollinaire, etc.