ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turks living abroad began voting Thursday to choose Turkey’s first directly elected president. It is also the first time expatriate Turks are voting in their countries of residence for Turkish elections.

Close to 2.8 million expatriate Turks in 54 countries — about half of them in Germany — are eligible to vote. Only about 250,000 of them however, have registered to vote, according to Turkey’s High Election Board. Polls opened in Germany and several other countries on Thursday.