Turkey and Ocalan had in March agreed on a ceasefire as part of renewed efforts to settle the three-decade-old conflict between Ankara and Kurdish fighters fighting for more autonomy.

As part of the truce, Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) agreed to withdraw its 2,000 estimated fighters from Turkey to their bases in northern Iraq, with the withdrawal expected to be completed before winter.

Ocalan's comments came in a statement Tuesday, a day after he met with a delegation from the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) at the Imrali prison island off Istanbul.

"We have right now entered a second stage," Ocalan said in a statement issued by the BDP.

"I hope the state will correctly assess our proposals with regard to the second stage and reach the right conclusions," he said.

Ocalan did not say what his proposals contained, saying only that "the debates for the second stage have started from now. I wish everyone in favour of democracy, solution and peace contributes to the debates."

In return for peace, the PKK has demanded wider constitutional rights for Turkey's Kurds, who make up around 20 percent of the country's 75-million population and live mostly in the southeast.

The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking a conflict in which some 45,000 people are estimated to have died.

Over the years, the PKK has scaled back its original demand for outright secession to a call for autonomy and cultural and language rights for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

A permanent peace could transform Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, where living standards have lagged far behind the rest of the country because of a lack of investment in the face of the violence.