COPENHAGEN, Oct 8 (AFP) - A Turkish doctor accepted Friday a major award for aid to torture victims, warning the practice had gained ground internationally since the September 11 attacks and continued with the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq.
Professor Veli Loek was the first person to receive the 10,000-dollar (12,000-euro) Inge Genefke Prize, named after a Danish pioneer in international campaigning against torture.
Accepting the award, Loek, co-founder of the Turkish Human Rights Foundation, said he and Turkish colleagues had treated more than 8,000 torture victims since 1991.
And while noting Turkey has progress to eliminate the practice as part of its efforts to join the EU, Loek expressed concern the situation has worsened in other parts of the world.
"Efforts to spread and justify torture have gained ground in the process which began with September 11 and continued with war and occupation in Afghanistan and Iraq," he warned.
"Some examples of troubling developments can be observed when American physicians close theirs eyes in front of torture or even cooperate," he added.
Loek was being honoured for "work since 1987 to detect signs of torture and care for those who were its victims," said Genefke, who in the early 1980s set up the Copenhagen-based Anti-Torture Support Foundation, the first world centre for rehabilitation of victims of torture.
Torture and human rights abuses have long been a black mark on Turkey's record, and Ankara has been trying to eradicate the practice to realize its ambition to join the EU.
The EU Commission in Brussels this week gave Turkey a qualified go-ahead to start membership negotiations, but warned more must be done to stamp out torture and improve human rights.
Turkey's top rights group, the Human Rights Association (IHD), has insisted that torture continues to be systematic despite government efforts to curb it.