As Turkey’s March 31 local elections draw nearer, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan rarely misses an opportunity to recall the 2013 Gezi Park resistance and warn of serious consequences for those who might think of taking to the streets again to protest his government. In a series of recent speeches, Erdogan has attacked journalists and the main opposition leader, portraying the constitutional right to peaceful demonstration as a crime.

Naturally, a naive question comes to mind: Could it be that Ankara has obtained intelligence of certain anti-government organizations and groups planning massive street protests to topple the government? Hence, could it be that the government is pre-emptively warning oppositionists in a bid to thwart the protests before they have even started?

Yet there is another question that is not naive at all. Is the government fearmongering about “the opposition taking to the streets” actually a bid to prevent any slackening in its base as it feels the pressure of an economic crisis that is fueling unemployment and the cost of living for opposition and government supporters alike in the run-up to elections? Thus, is the government trying to further polarize the nation? Is this why journalists and the main opposition leader stand accused of “calling the people to the streets”?

While looking for the answers, let’s start with some interesting details about a TV journalist in Erdogan’s crosshairs and the channel where he presents a popular program. Fox TV, which is owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, has had a Turkish-language channel of the same name since 2007, and the channel’s prime-time news program, presented by Fatih Portakal, has held the rating leadership in its category since 2013. A key factor — or perhaps the most important one — in Portakal’s rating success is that he could often be critical of the government — something that is inherent to journalism but is lacking on other TV channels, which are largely under government control. On the evening of Dec. 10, the first day of yet another week that saw Portakal dominate the ratings, he made comments that unleashed the wrath of the government.