"Let us mutually forgive each other. Let us not just forgive each other, but also bring to light, confess our mistakes and disclose the truth," the agency quoted Ocalan as saying in a letter he sent to members of parliament and civic organisations last week.

"That is the only way for reconciliation," said Ocalan, leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) serving a life term on a prison island.

He proposed a "Truth and Justice Commission" comprising intellectuals, jurists and academics that would advance a unilateral ceasefire declared by his rebels and open the way for the PKK to lay down arms.

"If we come to the point of laying down arms, we can do so only through this commission," Ocalan said.

He did not elaborate on the commission, but said it should "ensure and promise justice."

Lawyers for Ocalan said there had so far been no response to his letter.

Ocalan's PKK took arms against Turkey in 1984, seeking independence in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast, in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Since his capture and conviction for treason in 1999, Ocalan has said on several occasions that he wants greater political and cultural rights for the Kurds and denied intentions to carve up an independent Kurdish homeland.

The Ankara government categorically rules out Ocalan and the PKK as an interlocutor in the Kurdish conflict.

The PKK declared a unilateral ceasefire from October 1 to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but this was rejected by Turkey, although violence in the region has decreased notably since.