As Turkey heads to a referendum on Sunday to expand the powers of the presidency, Turkish voters living abroad could play an important role in the outcome. In some European countries with large Turkish populations, tensions have been high recently: Officials from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s party, known in Turkey as the A.K.P., tried to campaign in Germany and the Netherlands and, when rebuffed, responded with a stream of harsh insults.

We asked Turks living overseas for their views on the election and received several hundred responses, both in favor of the changes and passionately against. Some readers said that the discord in Europe had affected their sense of identity as Turks in an adopted land. Others feared that their votes would be ignored or changed. What tied the responses together was a deep sense of impending change and worry over where Turkey was headed — wherever that might be.

A Positive View on the Referendum

“I have never voted before in my life. I come from a political background and never thought much of politics and politicians. For the first time, I feel sympathy toward politicians. Not everything A.K.P. members do, as I believe the A.K.P. is still filled with traitors — but Erdogan is different, in my opinion. I believe that he is a blessing for Turkey, considering the old Turkey that was everything but democratic and fair to their own citizens.”

— Zuleyha Baran, 40, a translator in Mannheim, Germany. Twitter: @tyeuropeans.

“I am saying as a Turk living in Belgium: Individuals are temporary, and this is true for the presidential post, too. We are not voting for Recep Tayyip Erdogan here, we are voting for the future of the country. The Turkish Republic in every period has been faced with coups.”

— Ayse Tusem Gungor, 20, a student from Antwerp, Belgium (translated from Turkish).

Concerns About Consolidation of Power

“I will vote ‘no.’ This constitution has not been discussed. The matters were so quickly prepared, and now it’s going to a vote. By the way, the government is manipulating all the media, meetings, social media. It’s a really undemocratic way to win a match.”

— Berke Celik, 23, a student in Berlin. Twitter: @hberkecelik.

“Living abroad in these two countries where the rules are applied diligently and the freedom of speech is the backbone of the democracy, it is very pitiful for me to observe that my country is irreversibly getting far away from the merits of the contemporary world and diving into the deep black holes of the medieval era. Two weeks ago, I voted for ‘no,’ hoping that the referendum results in stopping the tyranny from coating the surface of Turkey.”

— Sami Akin, 35, a research scientist in Hanover, Germany, who also lived in the United States.

“It is ‘no.’ Why? Because ‘yes’ will make Turkey not a free republic but Erdogan’s playground. In the free world, they call this a dictator. l am an 82-year-old Turk, left Turkey in 1960 and I am an American, but they are my people. I cry for them, and wish them a free country. The founder of Turkey, Ataturk, would never say yes to this.”

— Akin Caldiran, 82, a retired veteran of the Turkish military in Lansing, Mich.