IKV Vice-President Zeynep Bodur Okyay was awarded with the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, “Ufficiale Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana”, on 16 April 2014 at the ceremony that took place at Venezia Palace in Istanbul. At the ceremony, IKV Vice-President Okyay was awarded with the Order of Merit by Italian Ambassador Gianpaolo Scarante on behalf of the Italian President Napolitano.

Zeynep Bodur Okyay, who is deemed worthy of this esteemed award attributable to her outstanding contributions to the relations between the two countries, currently serves as the President of Assembly of the Istanbul Chamber of Industry (ISO); the Chairman of Turkish-Italian Business Council Foreign Economic Relations Board of Turkey (DEIK); and the Chairman of Kale Group. IKV Chairman Ömer Cihad Vardan along with Members of Board of Directors Yavuz Canevi and İlhan Soylu also attended the ceremony.

M. Rifat Hisarcıklıoğlu, the President of the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), Mehmet Büyükekşi, the Chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM),  Erdal Bahçıvan, the President of ISO as well as İbrahim Bodur, the Founder and Honorary President of Kale Group also attended the ceremony.

Kale Group, which has close economic and commercial relations with Italy for nearly 55 years, bought Fincuoghi, one of Italy’s leading ceramic producers in 2011, and established a market presence in Italy as an industrialist. Zeynep Bodur Okyay had been previously awarded with the ''Caveliere di Lavora” by the Italian Government in 2006.

At the ceremony, addressing Zeynep Bodur Okyay, the Italian Ambassador Scarante expressed “Italy’s gratitude for her sympathy” and stated that Zeynep Bodur Okyay is deemed worthy of this award attributable to her efforts in developing and strengthening bilateral relations between Turkey and Italy, making her an expert and an important referee in that respect.

Zeynep Bodur Okyay stated that Italy had a special place in her life and explained that: “It has always been a pleasure, not a duty for me to make all these efforts in bringing my home country Turkey, and Italy, a country that I love as much as my home country closer”.

Zeynep Bodur Okyay is the first Turkish business woman who is awarded with two Orders of Merit by the Italian Republic, in 2006 and 2014 respectively.