The text of the declaration reads: "As a Kurdistani, I consider and embrace Abdullah Ocalan as a political entity in Kurdistan."

Ocalan is the founder and leader of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), classified as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, which has fought a bloody 22-year campaign for self-rule in the predominantly Kurdish southeast.

He has been serving a life sentence for treason and separatism since 1999 on the prison island of Imrali, in the Marmara Sea, of which he is the only inmate.

"Despite the hard conditions he is living in, Ocalan has, in the past seven years, made many proposals for a democratic solution to the Kurdish problem, including his latest call for a ceasefire," a statement by organizers and supporters of the signature campaign said.

Heeding an appeal by Ocalan, the PKK, which had notably stepped up violence this year, announced a unilateral truce on October 1.

"Ocalan made a determining contribution to the current climate of peace," the statement said. "In this context, we believe the authorities will make a correct evaluation of the results of this signature campaign."

The statement was read out by one of Ocalan's lawyers, Irfan Dundar, at a news conference here that was also attended by leading Kurdish politicians.

The results of the signature campaign will be sent to President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Parliament Speaker Bulent Arinc, Dundar said, adding that none of the three leaders had responded to their requests for an appointment.

Despite calls by Ankara that they should distance themselves from the PKK, Kurdish politicians often praise Ocalan and many call for his release.

The government has categorically ruled out the PKK as an interlocutor in efforts to resolve the Kurdish conflict and brushed aside suggestions for a general amnesty for the rebels as a means of encouraging them to surrender.

The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives since the PKK took up arms in 1984.