The PKK terrorist organization sent out a threat letter on Friday to the public of the Erzurum province located in northeastern Turkey. The letter read, "If you or any one person in your family give your vote to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) or any other party (in the Nov. 1 early elections) then be ready to pay a high price." The People's Defense Forces (HPG), an armed wing of the PKK terrorist organization sent out the threat letter in order to try and receive votes for the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) in the upcoming early elections. Although the PKK terrorist group and the HDP do not officially have ties, the PKK strongly supports the HDP. HDP deputy Abdullah Zeydan had made provocative statements and threatened Turkey in late July, saying that the terrorist organization PKK has the power to "suffocate Turkey with its spit." In another incident showing the relations between the two groups, Turkish security forces on September 7 had detained nine people, including Şafak Özanlı a HDP deputy from Kars, for transporting food and other supplies to the PKK terrorist organization. The PKK utilizes a "political style," which instills fear and uses force, which includes kidnapping people, attacking ruling AK Party members and threatening people in the Kurdish dominated regions in Turkey's eastern provinces, in order to influence voters to choose the HDP.The Turkish government has intensified its counterterror operations following the recent attacks carried out by the PKK, which is recognized as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.Renewed violence has threatened the reconciliation process officially initiated in early 2013, aimed at ending the 30-year conflict between the PKK and the Turkish state.The PKK, depicted as rebels in Western media, has killed 6,741 people since the 1980s when it started its first attacks, according to statistics compiled by Anadolu Agency. The group dismisses civilian deaths as collateral damage in attacks targeting security forces though several instances of killings prove otherwise.Formed in 1978, the PKK terrorist group has been fighting the Turkish government for an independent state until the early 2000's. The group then shifted its goal to autonomy in predominately Kurdish inhabited regions of Turkey.