"If Ocalan's lawyers are allowed to visit him at Imrali (prison), I think the strikes will come to an end," said Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP).

Ankara has kept Ocalan in solitary confinement in a prison on the island of Imrali south of Istanbul for a year and a half, blocking visits from his lawyers and family.

His lawyers have submitted a new demand to visit Ocalan within a few days and the request could be accepted, Demirtas added.

The strikers are calling for the lifting of restrictions on the use of Kurdish language but their main demand is improved jail conditions for Ocalan, the 62-year old leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is labelled as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community.

Ocalan was charged with treason and sentenced to hang in 1999 but the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in October 2002 after Turkey abolished the death penalty under pressure from the EU, which Ankara wants to join.

The Turkish government is under increasing pressure over how to tackle the hunger strike by around 700 Kurdish prisoners which is now in its 56th day, raising concerns about their state of health.

On Tuesday, President Abdullah Gul met Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin to discuss the situation of the striking inmates.

But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Saturday the strikers against "blackmail", saying: "We will not release the terrorist chief just because you say so or resort to such an action."

The strike, launched on September 12, the anniversary of a bloody coup of 1980, has triggered nationwide demonstrations in support of the movement. Many people have been hurt and arrested in clashes with the police.