Major danish firms express support for Turkey's EU accession bid

Representatives of major companies from Denmark reiterated their firm support for Turkey's European Union accession bid in an Istanbul meeting yesterday. Chief executive officers of 19 leading Danish firms, including Maersk, one of the world's biggest sea transportation companies, energy firm Dong, and leading beer producer Carlsberg, attended a meeting of the Young Presidents' Organization held at the Dogan Media Center with representatives from Dogan Broadcasting and Publishing Holding in attendance as well. Speaking at the meeting, Egemont Group head Stefen Kragh said, "Turkey is one of the world's top 15 economies, and has a great potential to develop. There are many things that we will learn from each other." Stressing that many Danes who visit Turkey are surprised by what they see, he said, "That's why they can do away with the country falsely portrayed by their prejudices that they had before coming here. When they come to Turkey, they realize that they are in a very modern country of Europe." Kragh said some of his colleagues were in Turkey for first time for the meeting, and had already had their views of Turkey changed, and added, "Now they all believe that Turkey should be part of the EU." He also said suspicions and prejudices about Turkey and its EU accession bid stem from the inadequate knowledge of both Danes and Europeans in general.