(Reuters) -After 26 years in a Turkish prison, Abdullah Ocalan is carving out a key role for himself as Ankara tries to end his outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party's four-decade insurgency.

In an event that was unimaginable a year ago, three Turkish lawmakers visited Ocalan on Monday to further the peace process following the PKK's announcement in May that it would disarm and disband.

In July, the PKK symbolically burned weapons and last month announced it was withdrawing fighters from Turkey as part of the disarmament process. PKK attacks have come to a halt since the process began.

But there is still some way to go to complete the peace process after a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people, and Ocalan's abiding authority over the PKK ensures his involvement is vital.

A DELICATE BALANCING ACT

The parliament speaker's office said that during Monday's talks at Imrali prison in the Marmara Sea, the parliamentarians took statements from Ocalan related to the PKK's disbandment and Syrian Kurdish forces, which Turkey regards as part of the PKK.

Achieving peace would be a major achievement for President Tayyip Erdogan - the conflict has sown deep political and cultural divisions in Turkey and set back the economy in the mainly Kurdish southeast by a generation.

Erdogan, 71, has remained largely in the background as peace moves progress with the PKK, which is deemed a terrorist organisation by Ankara and its Western allies after its attacks on both civilian and military targets.

But he welcomed the decision by the three members of a parliamentary commission to visit Ocalan,........

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