The leader of separatist Kurdish group PKK said he’s ready to cooperate with the Turkish government in a bid to end a long-running conflict that has claimed thousands of lives, according to a statement by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party,

The jailed leader of Turkey's outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, has been quoted as indicating he may be prepared to call for militants to lay down arms, after a key ally of President Tayyip Erdogan urged him to end the group's decades-old insurgency.

A delegation from Turkey's main pro-Kurdish DEM party is due on Saturday to visit jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is serving life on a prison island off Istanbul, a party source said.