Turkish authorities have arrested at least 60 people in sweeping raids targeting gay bars, LGBTQ activists and private residences, in what officials described as an operation to protect “traditional family values.”

The raids, carried out on Sunday across several provinces, have intensified concerns over the growing restrictions facing LGBTQ communities and civil society groups in Turkey.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek said legal proceedings had been launched against 162 suspects, nine organisations and 13 companies as part of the government’s “My Family is Safe” operation. Authorities said the campaign was linked to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s “Decade of the Family” initiative, which the government says is designed to protect children, the family and social order.

Prosecutors in Ankara, Istanbul and Izmir, cited by state news agency Anadolu, said at least 63 people had been detained.

In Istanbul, police reportedly raided several gay bars and a nightclub considered a safe space for members of the LGBTQ community. A men’s hammam was also targeted during the operation.

LGBTQ rights organisation Kaos GL said its offices were searched and its leaders taken into custody. The group said nearly 50 LGBTQ rights defenders across the country had either been detained or subjected to interrogations and other legal proceedings.

Authorities in Ankara reportedly accused Kaos GL of publishing material they considered “obscene” and claimed the content was accessible to children.

The crackdown came just a day after the accounts of more than a dozen Turkish LGBTQ organisations were blocked on X following requests from authorities, according to a digital rights watchdog.

Although same-sex relationships are not illegal in Turkey, LGBTQ people continue to face widespread discrimination and hostility. Activists say the latest arrests represent a significant escalation in government pressure on a community that has increasingly become a focal point of resistance to Turkey’s conservative government.

The European Parliament’s rapporteur for Turkey, Nacho Sanchez Amor, condemned the arrests as a “shocking escalation” in repression, warning that the government’s campaign amounted to a violation of fundamental rights and Turkey’s international commitments.

With Turkey’s LGBTQ community once again at the centre of a widening political and social confrontation, questions are mounting over how far the government’s campaign to promote traditional family values will go.

A wave of arrests, raids and online restrictions has placed Turkey’s LGBTQ community under renewed pressure. Is this the beginning of an even broader crackdown on civil liberties?