"A mutual process of non-violence could be developed. If such a will emerges, (the rebels) could also follow suit," the Firat news agency quoted Ocalan as saying at a meeting with his lawyers.

"There are expectations to end the clashes. Our people, the Kurds also have such expectations," he said.

Ocalan, leader of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), often communicates statements through his lawyers when they visit him on the prison island of Imrali, where he has been serving a life sentence since 1999.

The PKK has stepped up violence since Ocalan said in May he was abandoning efforts to seek dialogue with Ankara for a peaceful end to the 26-year conflict.

"My preference is not for the escalation of clashes and internal strife. A solution may be found on a democratic ground, primarily through a democratic constitution," Ocalan said.

He appeared to refer to Kurdish demands for a new constitution that would recognise the sizeable Kurdish community as a distinct element of Turkey's population and grant it autonomy.

Ocalan also urged "practical steps" to boost confidence between Ankara and the Kurds before the requested constitutional reform.

The measures should involve legal amendments to make it easier for Kurds to enter parliament, the abolition of an anti-terror law used mostly against the PKK and the release of dozens of activisits arrested for links to the PKK, he said.

"What if a solution is not sought on a democratic ground? The process of conflict will escalate... But this is not something we prefer," he said.

Ankara rejects dialogue with the PKK, insisting the rebels should either surrender or face the army.

Turkish jets bombed PKK bases in neighbouring Iraq overnight after 12 militants and five members of the security forces were killed in clashes inside Turkey Thursday.

In their bloodiest attack in two years, the PKK killed 12 soldiers last month in an attack near the Iraqi border.

Also last month, five soldiers and a teenager were killed in the bombing of a bus carrying army personnel in Istanbul, which was claimed by the rebels.

The mounting violence dealt a severe blow to an already faltering government initiative to boost Kurdish freedoms and investment in the impoverished southeast.

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