Jailed leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Abdullah Öcalan has called on hundreds of prisoners and pro-Kurdish deputies to end their hunger strikes, Today's Zaman reported.
Brother of Abdullah Öcalan, Mehmet Öcalan, visited the PKK leader on Saturday in İmralı island off İstanbul coast, where he is serving his life imprisonment. Öcalan told his brother that hunger strikers should end their protest.
"Today I went to see my brother Abdullah Öcalan face-to-face in Imrali prison," said a statement by Mehmet Öcalan.
"He wants me to share immediately with the public his call about the hunger strikes. This action has achieved its goal. Without any hesitation, they should end the hunger strike," he said.
The call was also conveyed to pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy (BDP) deputies. BDP deputies Sabahat Tuncel, Aysel Tuğluk, Gülten Kışanak and Sırrı Süreyya Önder went to two prisons in Diyarbakır to tell the hunger strikers to end their protest.
The hunger strike, demanding an end to Öcalan's isolation, is stretching into its third month. Medics say the strikers, some of whom have refused food for 67 days, could soon begin dying. They are consuming sugared water, salt and vitamins.
Öcalan, leader of the PKK, which has been fighting for autonomy for almost three decades, has been imprisoned on the small island of İmralı in the Marmara Sea since his capture in 1999.
He has significant support among PKK members but is widely reviled by Turks who hold him responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people since the PKK - designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union - took up arms.
The protest by hundreds of PKK supporters and activists presents a growing challenge for the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and risks fuelling tensions in the mainly Kurdish southeast as the protesters' health deteriorates.
One of the hunger strikers in the southeastern city of Diyarbakır was taken to hospital on Saturday with stomach bleeding, although his condition was not thought to be life-threatening.
"In democracies, you don't get rights by using these methods ... I hope they will return from the wrong path. As the government, we won't let anyone die in prison," Erdoğan told reporters before leaving on an official visit to Egypt.
He has previously dismissed the protest as "blackmail" supported by "merchants of death".
The hunger strikers have demanded an end to Öcalan's isolation, including access to lawyers, as well as greater Kurdish language rights for Kurds in Turkey, who make up around one fifth of the population.
Seven leading Kurdish politicians joined the protest over the past week, including parliamentarian Leyla Zana, a former Nobel Peace Prize nominee.
Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin has played down reports of Öcalan's isolation, saying his family is able to visit him and that Öcalan himself did not want to talk to his lawyers.
The lawyers reject this and say the authorities have declined their requests to visit him 134 times since they last saw him more on July 27, 2011. They usually cite breakdowns on the boat or bad weather, say the lawyers.
Öcalan's solitary confinement was eased in 2009 when five more inmates were brought to the island. His current situation is unclear but lawyers say he has no access to a telephone or television and his newspapers are censored.
Mehmet Öcalan has said he visited him twice in jail in the last 15 months.
Most of Öcalan's lawyers are now on trial accused of links to the PKK, leaving a small group of young, inexperienced colleagues to represent him.
The lawyers, of which 27 are in custody as the trial continues, are accused of passing on orders from Öcalan to the PKK - a charge they reject.
Fighting between the PKK and Turkish security forces surged over the summer. Ankara linked the renewed hostilities to the conflict in neighboring Syria. Turkey has accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of arming the PKK.
Erdoğan's government has boosted Kurdish cultural and language rights since taking power a decade ago. But Kurdish politicians are seeking greater political reform, including steps towards autonomy for mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey.
Addressing one of the protesters' demands, the government has submitted to parliament a bill allowing defendants to use Kurdish in their court testimony. But Kurdish politicians say this alone would not be sufficient to end the hunger strike.
The government is worried about the hunger strike in the light of a similar protest more than a decade ago in which dozens died - both as a result of fasting and a security operation to end the strike.
The justice ministry says around 1,700 people are on hunger strike and doctors were regularly inspecting them. Turkey's largest medical association has warned of fatalities after around 60 days.