A truce declared on August 13 for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan was "the fruit of dialogue between our leader (Ocalan) and competent authorities acting in the name of the Turkish state with the knowledge of the government" in Ankara, the Kurdistan Workers' Party said in a statement.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Friday denied that any dialogue had taken place with Ocalan, who was jailed for life in 1999.

The PKK said the truce was the result of an order from its jailed leader, following a spike of violence in May after Ocalan declared that he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara.

The statement did not specify who Ocalan negotiated with, or how the talks had taken place.

The Kurdish rebel group has called for the constitution to recognise the rights of some 15 million (out of a population of 73 million) Turkish Kurds, as well as grant autonomy to eastern and south eastern regions in Anatolia.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in the Kurdish-majority south east in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed around 45,000 lives.