Pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) lawmaker Leyla Guven began a hunger strike in November in a bid to end Ocalan’s years of isolation by securing him regular access to his family and lawyers.

“Comrades who have committed themselves to hunger strikes and death fasts, I expect you to end your protest,” Ocalan said in a statement read out by one of his lawyers in Istanbul, four days after they visited him for the second time this month.

One of the MPs who had been on hunger strike said at a news conference in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey, that the protest was ending in response to Ocalan’s call.

The resumption of lawyers’ visits came a month before a mayoral election re-run in Istanbul, prompting speculation of steps toward a new peace process four years after Ankara’s talks with Ocalan on ending conflict in the southeast of the country fell apart, Reuters reported.

However, Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul has denied there is any connection.

Ocalan is the founder of the PKK, designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and United States.

He has been held in an island prison since Turkish special forces captured him in Kenya in 1999 and is revered by grassroots HDP supporters who see him as key to any peace process.

His lawyers visited him at the start of this month for the first time in nearly eight years and were allowed to hold talks with him again on Wednesday.

Reporter’s code: 50101