A Turkish writer best known for prescribing remedies for hemorrhoids, constipation and male sterility said he had a solution should Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) fail to win parliamentary and presidential elections that are due to be held on June 24.

Ahmet Maranki, also known as “Lord of the Herbs,” revealed in an interview with hardcore Islamist Akit TV that he had a weapons stash buried under a tree in Istanbul’s Belgrade forest. In the event the AKP is dethroned, “we will dig them up and take to the streets in the name of Allah, the all compassionate and the merciful,” Maranki declared. An unnerved presenter tried to reason with him but Maranki kept going. Evoking Erdogan’s calls to the people on the night of the 2016 coup to face down the putschists, Maranki said, “When called upon, this nation is ready.”

His comments unleashed a storm of angry commentary, with many equating Maranki’s words to a call for civil conflict. Prosecutors have launched a probe.

Maranki hit a raw nerve. For some time there has been hushed speculation that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan might resort to drastic measures if he scents defeat. The mildest would be to fiddle with the election results, as the government is widely alleged to have done in the narrowly approved April 2017 referendum on exchanging Turkey’s current parliamentary system for a super-presidency.