Ercan Karakoyun has long played a prominent role in Berlin’s Turkish community, promoting education and dialogue among Muslims and Germans of other faiths.

Now, however, whenever he can, Karakoyun avoids the bustling streets where many Turks live in the German capital. He says he has received six death threats via email and Facebook that are being investigated by police.

“One message said: ‘We know where your daughter goes to school’,” he added.

Karakoyun heads the Foundation for Dialogue and Education in Germany, a movement that supports Fethullah Gulen, the U.S.-based cleric Turkey blames for July’s attempted coup.

The group has been active in Germany for many years, operating 150 tutoring centres in the country, 30 government-recognised schools and a dozen interfaith dialogue projects. It has long been seen as a moderate Islamic group although it has faced criticism over a lack of transparency.

Now though, tensions are rising among the community of 3 million people with a Turkish background in Germany following the failed putsch. They have split into supporters of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and his opponents, and they are vying for influence.

The divisions mirror those that are now in stark relief in Turkey between Erdogan’s supporters and two other groups – Gulen backers and ethnic Kurds.

Karakoyun said ties with Erdogan supporters had been strained for several years but the situation had spiralled out of control since the coup was thwarted.

“Erdogan’s witchhunt in Turkey against Gulen supporters is now being carried out here,” Karakoyun said.

The rivalries have raised questions about a failure to better integrate Turks, some of whom have lived in Germany for decades. They have also deepened scepticism in Germany about migrants at a time when Chancellor Angela Merkel is under fire over her open-door refugee policy.

The government has a policy headache. Although concerned about Turkey’s record on human rights and a crackdown on opponents since the failed coup, it needs Ankara’s help to stem the flow of migrants from countries such as Syria.

KURDS PLAN TO MARCH

One immediate concern is a march planned in Cologne on Saturday by leftist groups and Kurds, who account for one in three immigrants from Turkey.

This follows a ban on a large, annual Kurdish festival nearby which angered the Kurds, especially as Erdogan supporters were allowed to hold a rally in Cologne on July 31.

Security officials worry that Erdogan supporters could take to the streets to counter the Kurdish march, expected to attract about 30,000 people, and that there could be violence. Tempers flared when Germany’s top court prevented Erdogan from addressing the July 31 rally via videolink.

With many people of Turkish origin just back from summer holidays in Turkey, there are concerns that passions have been fuelled by media coverage “back home” which is dominated by criticism of Germans, coup plotters and Kurds.

“We cannot allow this conflict to be imported to German soil. We have to pay particular attention to those cases where massive pressure is being applied to Germans with a Turkish background here,” Nicola Beer, general secretary of Germany’s libertarian Free Democratic Party, told Reuters.

Community leaders say a pervasive and longstanding sense among young Turkish Germans that they are shunned in society makes them pliable and more attuned to the political mood in the homeland, to which they feel attached but barely know.

“Because they (young Turks) are ill-informed (about events in Turkey) many get emotional quickly. Some are charged like ticking time bombs,” said Kazim Erdogan, 63, a psychologist who is no relation of Turkey’s president.

“The atmosphere (in the Turkish community in Germany) is completely poisoned. We are at a tipping point.”

Lists of businesses identified as backing Gulen, and calling for boycotts of their products or services, have appeared on social media.

“We are outing these parallel forces and their henchmen!” read one entry, listing over 20 firms in the Stuttgart area, at least one of which denies such links.

Turkish officials say the German government’s concerns about tensions in the Turkish community are overblown and the majority of Turks in Germany have rallied behind Erdogan since the coup.

Sixty percent of Turks in Germany voted for his AKP party in the latest national elections, according to the Organisation of Turkish Communities in Germany.

QUESTIONS ABOUT INTEGRATION

But Labour and Social Affairs Minister Andrea Nahles told Reuters after meeting Turkish groups in Berlin’s Kreuzberg neighbourhood that the situation was “ripping families apart.”

Government officials are worried about the role played by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs (DITIB) which operates through some 900 associations across Germany, most of which are mosques with imams dispatched from Turkey.

“DITIB is used to spread the Turkish government’s message in Germany,” Ole Schroeder, deputy interior minister and a member of Merkel’s conservatives, told Reuters.

Politicians from right and left want DITIB’s influence curbed, and many, including Schroeder, are calling for the group to stop importing clerics who are trained in Istanbul.

DITIB has denied being steered by the Turkish government or posing any threat to Germany.

Merkel has urged Turks in Germany to show “loyalty to our country,” a comment that divided her ruling coalition and pointed to growing angst about strains in the Turkish community and Ankara’s influence on it.

Tensions with Ankara grew when German parliament passed a resolution in June declaring the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman forces a genocide.

They rose further when a government report in August called Turkey a hub for Islamist groups, and government data show a quarter of the 850 militants who have left Germany to fight for Islamic State had a Turkish background.

Cansel Kiziltepe, a Social Democrat member of the Bundestag lower house of parliament, said the situation showed Germany had not implemented any meaningful integration policies until the early 2000s.

“If people aren’t integrated, then they don’t feel like they belong here,” she told Reuters. “And then they’re susceptible when someone comes (along) who shows apparent strength and tries to incite these people against the majority (in) society.”

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Thursday to choke off businesses linked to the U.S.-based cleric he blames for an attempted coup, describing his schools, firms and charities as “nests of terrorism” and promising no mercy in rooting them out.

Business is the arena in which the network of Fethullah Gulen is still the strongest, Erdogan said in a speech from his palace broadcast live. Those who “financed the shooters” would be treated like the coup plotters themselves, he said.

Erdogan accuses Gulen of harnessing an extensive network of schools, charities and businesses, built up in Turkey and abroad over decades, to infiltrate state institutions and build a “parallel structure” that aimed to take over the country.

An Istanbul court on Thursday issued an arrest warrant for the cleric for “giving the instructions” for the coup attempt, the latest of several warrants issued against him in recent years on charges including running a criminal network.

The 75-year-old cleric denies the allegations.

More than 60,000 people in the military, judiciary, civil service and education have been detained, suspended or placed under investigation for alleged links to his “Hizmet” (Service) movement since the July 15 coup, prompting fears among Western allies and rights groups of a witch-hunt.

“They have nothing to do with a religious community, they are a fully-fledged terrorist organisation … This cancer is different, this virus has spread everywhere,” Erdogan told heads of chambers of commerce and bourses attending his speech.

“The business world is where they are the strongest. We will cut off all business links, all revenues of Gulen-linked business. We are not going to show anyone any mercy,” he said, describing the detentions so far as just the tip of the iceberg.

BUSINESS CRACKDOWN

Gulen, who has lived in self-imposed exile in Pennsylvania since 1999, has denied plotting against the state and has condemned the coup attempt, in which rogue soldiers commandeered warplanes, helicopters and tanks, bombing parliament and seizing bridges in a bid to seize power.

More than 230 people were killed, excluding soldiers who were involved in the coup attempt. Many of the dead were civilians.

Before the failed coup, the Turkish authorities had already seized Islamic lender Bank Asya, taken over or closed several media companies and detained businessmen on allegations of funding the cleric’s movement.

Although the bulk of the purges in the wake of the putsch have been in the security forces, judiciary and public sector, private firms have also been affected.

The head of research at a brokerage had his licence revoked over a report to investors analysing the coup plot, while Turkish Airlines, arguably the country’s most recognised brand, has fired 211 staff over alleged Hizmet links.

The chairman and several executives from Boydak Holding, a prominent family-run conglomerate with interests from furniture to energy, have also been detained, as has the chief of Turkey’s biggest petrochemicals firm Petkim.

“KEEPING A COOL HEAD”

The coup fallout risks affecting some multinational firms operating in Turkey, including delaying investment decisions.

German energy group EWE, which employs around 700 people in Turkey, said around a dozen managers had left its subsidiary in recent days. A spokesman declined to give a reason but said the company, while not questioning its engagement with Turkey, was monitoring the political and economic situation very carefully.

Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser told reporters on Thursday he had summoned the head of the group’s Turkish operations to a supervisory board meeting a day earlier to get a first-hand account of events inside the country.

The German industrial group employs 3,000 people in Turkey.

“It’s a question of keeping a cool head and keeping an eye on how things develop, because things are developing which are not really desirable in a modern democracy,” he told a conference call to discuss the company’s earnings.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey would introduce a package of reforms to encourage investment including removing some taxes, as the government looks to shore up confidence. But investors remain cautious.

“Investment plans are being put on ice. Given the current emergency legislation new investment is not advisable,” said Anton Boerner, head of Germany’s BGA trade association, adding concern about Turkey’s credit ratings had also made investment more expensive.

Germany is the biggest foreign investor in Turkey with investments totalling more than 12 billion euros ($13.3 billion) since 1980, according to the German foreign ministry.

STRAINS IN RELATIONS

The coup and its aftermath have strained Turkey’s relations with the United States, which has said it will not extradite Gulen unless Turkey provides evidence of his wrongdoing, and Europe, some of whose politicians have raised concern that Erdogan is using events to further tighten his grip on power.

Turkey’s EU Affairs Minister criticised comments by Austrian Chancellor Christian Kern suggesting talks on Turkey joining the European Union should be broken off, saying the EU’s founding values remain a reference for Ankara.

Kern said on Wednesday he would start a discussion among European heads of government to quit talks on Turkish accession because of its democratic and economic deficits.

“It’s disturbing that his statements are similar to those of the far right… Criticism is surely a democratic right but there has to be a difference between criticising Turkey and being against Turkey,” EU minister Omer Celik told reporters.

A senior EU official involved in accession talks with Turkey said Kern’s comments were “too early” and part of “the domestic debate” in Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party attracts around a third of votes in opinion polls. But he did not entirely dismiss them.

“The EU should not, obviously, pursue the road of ending the accession talks with Turkey, but we will have to if Turkey keeps sliding into semi-authoritarianism,” the official said.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said in remarks published on Thursday that it would be counterproductive to freeze accession talks, but said Turkey is currently unfit to become an EU member.

The purges of Gulen’s suspected followers this week extended to the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (Tubitak) and have also included private and military hospitals, which are now under the supervision of the health ministry.

The number of staff purged at Turkey’s Football Federation rose to more than 110 on Thursday, while four actors and two directors at municipal theatres in Istanbul were also suspended, according to broadcaster NTV.

Turkey purged its police on Monday after rounding up thousands of soldiers in the wake of a failed military coup, and said it could reconsider its friendship with the United States unless Washington hands over a cleric Ankara blames for the putsch.

Turkish authorities moved swiftly to retaliate for Friday night’s coup, in which more than 200 people were killed when a faction of the armed forces tried to seize power.

But the swift justice, including calls to reinstate the death penalty for plotters, drew concern from Western allies who said Ankara must uphold the rule of law in the country, a NATO member that is Washington’s most powerful Muslim ally.

Thousands of members of the armed forces, from foot soldiers to commanders, were rounded up on Sunday, some shown in photographs stripped to their underpants and handcuffed on the floors of police buses and a sports hall. Several thousand prosecutors and judges have also been removed.

A senior security official told Reuters that 8,000 police officers, including in the capital Ankara and the biggest city Istanbul, had also been removed from their posts on suspicion of links to Friday’s coup bid.

Thirty regional governors and more than 50 high-ranking civil servants have also been dismissed, CNN Turk said.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said 7,543 people had so far been detained, including 6,038 soldiers. Work was under way to purge the civil service.

Turkey blames the failed coup on Fethullah Gulen, a cleric based in the United States who has a wide following in Turkey and denies any involvement.

Ankara has demanded Washington hand him over. Washington says it is prepared to extradite him but only if Turkey provides evidence linking him to crime. Yildirim rejected that demand.

“We would be disappointed if our (American) friends told us to present proof even though members of the assassin organisation are trying to destroy an elected government under the directions of that person,” Yildirim said.

“At this stage there could even be a questioning of our friendship,” Yildirim added.

Yildirim said 232 people were killed in Friday night’s violence, 208 of them civilians, police and loyalist soldiers, and a further 24 coup plotters. Officials previously said the overall death toll was more than 290.

ERDOGAN’S PLANE IN REBEL SIGHTS

Around 1,400 others were wounded as soldiers commandeered tanks, attack helicopters and fighter jets in their bid to seize power, strafing parliament and the intelligence headquarters and trying to seize the main airport and bridges in Istanbul.

The coup crumbled after President Tayyip Erdogan, on holiday at the coast, phoned in to a television news programme and called for his followers to take to the streets. He was able to fly into Istanbul in the early hours of Saturday, after rebel pilots had his plane in their sights but did not shoot it down.

On Sunday he told crowds of supporters, called to the streets by the government and by mosques across the country, that parliament must consider their demands to apply the death penalty for the plotters.

“We cannot ignore this demand,” he told a chanting crowd outside his house in Istanbul late on Sunday. “In democracies, whatever the people say has to happen.”

He called on Turks to stay on the streets until Friday, and late into Sunday night his supporters thronged squares and streets, honking horns and waving flags.

Turkey gave up the death penalty in 2004 as part of a programme of reforms required to become a candidate to join the EU. Germany said on Monday that Turkey would lose its EU status if it reinstates the death penalty.

Yildirim said Turkey should not act hastily over the death penalty but could not ignore the demands of its people.

The bloodshed shocked the nation of almost 80 million, where the army last used force to stage a successful coup more than 30 years ago, and shattered fragile confidence in the stability of a NATO member state already rocked by Islamic State suicide bombings and an insurgency by Kurdish militants.

Western countries said they supported Erdogan’s government but Ankara should abide by the rule of law.

“We stand squarely on the side of the elected leadership in Turkey. But we also firmly urge the government of Turkey to maintain calm and stability throughout the country,” U.S. Secretary of State Kerry told a news briefing in Brussels where he attended a gathering of European counterparts.

“We also urge the government of Turkey to uphold the highest standards of respect for the nation’s democratic institutions and the rule of law. We will certainly support bringing the perpetrators of the coup to justice but we also caution against a reach that goes well beyond that.”

Referring to Gulen, Kerry called on Turkey to furnish evidence “that withstands scrutiny”, rather than allegations.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini also called on Ankara to avoid steps that would damage the constitutional order.

“We were the first … during that tragic night to say that the legitimate institutions needed to be protected,” she told reporters on arrival at the EU foreign ministers meeting.

“We are the ones saying today rule of law has to be protected in the country,” she said. “There is no excuse for any steps that take the country away from that.”

Turkey’s pro-Kurdish HDP opposition, parliament’s third largest party, said it would not support any government proposal to reintroduce the death penalty. The main CHP opposition said the response to the coup attempt must be conducted within the rule of law and that the plotters should face trial.

“HEAVY BLOW” TO MILITARY

Turkish security forces are still searching for some of the soldiers involved in the coup bid in various cities and rural areas but there is no risk of a renewed bid to seize power, a senior security official told Reuters.

The official said Turkey’s military command had been dealt “a heavy blow in terms of organisation” but was still functioning in coordination with the intelligence agency, police and the government. Some high-ranking military officials involved in the plot have fled abroad, he said.

Erdogan has long accused Gulen of trying to create a “parallel state” within the courts, police, armed forces and media. Gulen, in turn, has said the coup attempt may have been staged, casting it as an excuse for Erdogan to forge ahead with his purge of the cleric’s supporters from state institutions.

The swift rounding up of judges and others indicated the government had prepared a list beforehand, the EU commissioner dealing with Turkey’s membership bid, Johannes Hahn, said.

“I’m very concerned. It is exactly what we feared,” he said in Brussels.

A Turkish official acknowledged that Gulen’s followers in the armed forces had been under investigation for some time, but denied that an arrest list had been prepared in advance.

“In our assessment, this group acted out of a sense of emergency when they realised that they were under investigation. There was a list of people who were suspected of conspiring to stage a coup,” the official said.

“There was no arrest list. There was a list of people suspected of planning a coup.”