Catalan leader backs mediation to resolve regional crisis

BARCELONA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Catalan regional leader Carles Puigdemont said on Wednesday he was in favour of mediation to find a way out of the Catalan crisis but that the Spanish government had not accepted it.

"This moment calls for mediation. We have received various offers in the last hours and we will receive more. All of them know I am ready to start a mediation process," he said in a televised address.

"I will repeat it as many times as necessary: dialogue and agreement are part of the political culture of our people. However, the state has not given any positive answer to those offers," he said.

The Catalan parliament is expected to unilaterally declare independence from Spain next Monday after a referendum that the Spanish government and courts have declared illegal.

"I am sure that in the next few days we will show the best of our country when the institutions of Catalonia will have to apply the results of the referendum," Puigdemont said.