Italy awards Order of Merit to the chairman of Kale Group, Zeynep Bodur Okyay

On 16th April, during a ceremony held at Palazzo di Venezia in Istanbul, the Official Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy was awarded to the chairman of Kale Group, Zeynep Bodur Okyay, for his contribution to the development of relations between Italy and Turkey. The medal was presented personally by the Deputy Minister for Economic Development Carlo Calenda and by the Ambassador Gianpaolo Scarante.

In addition to many representatives of the entrepreneurial world, the founder and Honorary Chairman of Kale Group, Ibrahim Bodur, took part in the ceremony.

The Group, which has consolidated important commercial relations with Italy during its 55 years in business, in 2011 acquired the company Fincuoghi, one of the most important production companies in the ceramic sector, thus creating the Italian company Kale Italia.

"The efforts made to develop relations between Turkey and Italy, which I love like my own country, have always been a pleasure and not a job", Zeynep Bodur Okyay declared, who in 2006 had already been awarded the title of "Cavaliere del Lavoro" [order presented to persons who have made a major contribution to the Italian economy] and is the only Turkish entrepreneur to have obtained two orders of the Italian State.