"It is possible to stop the bloodshed... If the government displays a sincere approach we will do what is up to us. I will make a call for a ceasefire and the clashes will stop," the Germany-based Firat news agency quoted Ocalan as saying.

Ocalan's remarks were apparently relayed to Firat by his lawyers, who, the agency said, recently met him at the prison island of Imrali, where he has been serving a life sentence for treason since 1999.

Clashes between the army and Ocalan's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in the mainly Kurdish southeast have notably escalated this year after the rebels called off a five-year unilateral ceasefire in June 2004.

Kurdish militants also claimed responsibility for 13 bomb attacks in urban centers across Turkey this year, in which nine people were killed and more than 150 injured.

"A democratic dialogue is required for a permanent solution," Ocalan said. "You cannot finish off the PKK by pleading with the United States and cooperating with Iran and Syria."

Turkey last month urged the United States and Iraq to take action against PKK bases in neighboring northern Iraq, which the rebels use as a jumping board for attacks on Turkish territory, and threatened a cross-border operation if they fail to do so.

Iran and Syria have their own restive Kurdish communities.

Ankara categorically rejects dialogue with the PKK, which it lists as a terrorist group, along with the European Union and the United States.

"Our demands are very clear... Our children should be educated in their mother tongue, should listen to radio, watch television and read newspapers" in Kurdish, Ocalan said.

Keen to boost its bid to join the EU, Turkey has allowed limited radio and television broadcasts in Kurdish, but the education language in schools remains Turkish, even though private courses teaching the Kurdish language have also been legalized. Several Kurdish-language newspapers are published.

Ocalan said that if Ankara takes "some practical steps and gives certain guarantees" following an eventual PKK ceasefire the rebels would retreat to Iraq or another country.

"At the final stage, the arms would be laid down for good, provided a legal guarantee is given," he said, in an apparent reference for an amnesty for PKK members.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in the southeast.