The visit by the deputies from the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP) is the second since Turkish authorities launched new peace talks with Kurdish rebels in December.

Two Kurdish politicians met with Ocalan on January 3.

Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has been serving a life sentence at Imrali prison on an island in the Marmara Sea south of Istanbul since his capture in Nairobi in 1999.

Many have viewed Saturday's visit as a sign that negotiations were proceeding after the January 9 murder in Paris of three PKK militants raised fears that the talks would be abandoned.

Local media said Ocalan might ask his visitors to pass on a call for a ceasefire to the leadership of the PKK, which is branded a terrorist group by Turkey and its Western allies.

Turkey's secret services resumed peace negotiations with Ocalan late last year with the ultimate aim of ending the PKK's nearly three-decade fight for autonomy in the southeast that has claimed more than 40,000 lives.