Turkish voters living abroad flocked to the ballot boxes at customs gates to cast their votes on Monday, the first day of voting on the constitutional amendment package, amid intensive efforts by European media and politicians to interfere in the election process by promoting "no" votes. According to the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AK Party) Foreign Election Coordination Center, the number of votes cast on the first day increased threefold compared to the Nov. 1 general elections, rising to 38,000 from 10,000.The information contained data from prominent European countries that have a large Turkish diaspora, including Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark and Switzerland. Officials emphasized that participation in the election has been far greater than previous elections. The high numbers came amid efforts by European politicians and media sources to intervene in the referendum process by trying to steer Turkish voters' toward "no" votes, even though they previously banned Turkish ministerial meetings on the basis of "carrying Turkey's internal politics into Germany." Regarding the attempts, Prime Minister Binalı Yıldırım yesterday warned European countries to refrain from meddling in Turkey's referendum process and urged them to "mind their own business.""I warn Europe regarding their attitude toward the referendum, which is an entirely domestic issue. Don't meddle in our domestic politics. Do mind your own business. Everybody should know their place," Yıldırım said at a meeting in the central Anatolian province of Karaman.Yıldırım added that "racist rhetoric has unfortunately become popular" across Europe while Turkey is making progress on democratization. "Hostility toward Erdoğan has become the trend in Europe. Supporters of terrorist organizations like the PKK and Gülenist Terror Group [FETÖ] are disseminating propaganda across Europe against the 'yes' vote while they are banning organizations that side with the 'yes' camp. This is blatantly racism," he said.Previously, the leader of Germany's Green party Cem Özdemir and vice president of the German Bundestag, Claudia Roth, urged Turkish citizens in Germany and Turkey to vote "no" in the upcoming referendum. European media, especially German newspapers and television stations, have long been carry out active campaigns in favor of "no" in Turkey. On Sunday, the German Bild newspaper published a controversial article asserting that Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Republic of Turkey, would have voted "no" if he was still alive.On March 13, Swiss newspaper Blick set aside its entire front page to address the Turkish community in Switzerland, urging them to back the "no" campaign with the controversial headline: "Vote no against Erdoğan's dictatorship." Basel's annual Morgestraich carnival, held in the first week of March, also featured lanterns depicting controversial cartoons of Turkish people and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, a jab at Erdoğan's supporters and "yes" voters in the upcoming April 16 referendum.Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has accused Western media of biased and inaccurate coverage of the referendum on constitutional changes set to face Turkish voters less than three weeks from now. "The way the Western media is covering the referendum is not right, unfortunately, it is not based on the facts of this constitutional package," Çavuşoğlu said last week during a visit to Washington, in an interview with Breitbart.com.Çavuşoğlu said this interference in the referendum had backfired, as "our 'yes' vote has been increasing after such involvement and intervention by the media and politicians in some Western countries."Meanwhile, according to a survey conducted by the Ankara-based Objective Research Center (ORC), more than 55 percent of participants will likely say "yes" to the constitutional amendment package foreseeing a presidential system whereas the "no" vote is at 44 percent.The ORC conducted a computer-assisted telephone interview survey with 2,740 people throughout 36 provinces in Turkey on March 24-27. The survey revealed that if snap elections were held today, 52.4 percent of participants said they would vote for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), while the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) is at 24 percent and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) is at 15.2 percent.