Alija Behmen


Alija Behmen was a Bosnian politician who served as mayor of Sarajevo and a member of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Behmen previously served as Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2001 to 2003.
Behmen graduated in 1969 from the Faculty of Economics at the University of Sarajevo, where he later presented a doctoral dissertation in the field of modeling transport costs and their impact on the reproduction and development of the economy. In 1974 he defended his master's degree in marketing. From 1970 he worked at the Institute of Economics in Sarajevo and at the Sarajevo State Technical University as responsible for technological and economic functions. He was also Deputy President and Chairman of the Management Board of the ŽTO Sarajevo.
From 1978 to 1980 Behmen chaired the PO Interšped Workers' Organization. He was then appointed Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Transport and Communications.
In the 1998 general elections, as a candidate of the Social Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he was elected member of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly and deputy chairman of the House of Peoples of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity.
From March 2001 to the end of 2003, Behmen was appointed Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity.
In the 2006 general elections Behmen was elected member of the House of Representatives of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina entity. He left the post in January 2009, after being appointed mayor of the City of Sarajevo. He worked as mayor until 2013.