ISTANBUL: Prosecutors have summoned Turkey’s top spy and his predecessor for questioning over reports of secret peace talks in Norway between Turkish intelligence agents and Kurdish militant leaders, Turkish media said Wednesday.

Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency (MIT), is due to testify Thursday as part of a widening investigation into alleged links between Kurdish activists and separatist Kurdistan Workers Party militants, deputy chief prosecutor Fikret Secen told reporters.

Former MIT chief Emre Taner and his deputy Afet Gunes have also been summoned by prosecutors, Secen said. He declined to comment on whether they were being called as suspects.

The PKK, which took up arms in 1984 to fight for an independent state for Turkey’s minority Kurds, is still branded a terrorist organization by Ankara, the European Union and the United States.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has granted some cultural and language rights to Kurds to try to stem support for the revolt and end a conflict that has killed more than 40,000 people.

Last year, Turkish media reported recordings of talks hosted in Oslo between Turkish intelligence agents and PKK leaders, sparking accusations from opposition parties and nationalist groups that the government was seeking a secret peace accord.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, asked in an interview Wednesday about the prosecutors’ decision to summon Fidan, said such talks had been carried out on “political instructions.”

It has long been known that MIT held talks with PKK representatives. Erdogan himself has repeatedly said such talks were held, but stressed that it was the “state” and not the “government” which was involved in them.