Turkish police have detained 47 people in a series of raids on gay bars and the homes of LGBTQ+ activists, officials say - an operation the government has branded with the heartwarming moniker "My Family is Safe," presumably on the theory that families are safest when everyone else is in custody.

The raids unfolded across 12 provinces over the weekend, with one of the primary targets being LGBTQ+ association Kaos GL. Because nothing protects the sanctity of the family quite like a pre-dawn knock at the door.

According to the Istanbul chief prosecutor's office, officers detained 26 people and seized drugs, digital equipment, smuggled alcohol and a firearm during the raids. In a separate statement, the Ankara chief prosecutor's office said another 21 people had been detained as part of an investigation into Kaos GL - bringing the government's official count to 47, which Kaos GL disputes.

The organisation said 50 activists had actually been detained, with more than 10 taken after police raids on their homes. It also said authorities had blocked several websites and social media accounts linked to LGBTQ+ organisations.

According to Kaos GL, authorities have accused the group of making "obscenity" in online posts accessible to children and had demanded the shutdown of the Kaos GL X account, along with those of around 15 other LGBTQ+ organisations. Because if there's one thing a government crackdown excels at, it's finding creative legal vocabulary.

Same-sex relations are not an offence in Turkey, but homophobia is common - with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan having described LGBTQ people as "perverts" responsible for the falling birth rate, a demographic theory that presumably also explains why nobody's having kids in countries where the government isn't raiding bars.

As part of "My Family is Safe," Turkish Justice Minister Akin Gurlek says legal proceedings have been started against more than 160 people and a number of organisations and companies across the country. Gurlek did not say how many people had been taken into custody, but noted the raids came in the context of the "Decade of the Family" campaign - a decade that, at this rate, may need a slightly less ironic slogan.

However, the Turkish Human Rights Association says the government has been using the campaign to target the LGBTQ+ community for years. "The real name of this operation is not 'My Family is Safe'; it is state-led discrimination, politics of fear and the dismantling of civil society," the organisation said on X.

In related news that will surprise absolutely no one, a stand-up comic has also been held for jokes about Erdoğan and Islam in Turkey's ongoing crackdown - and Pride is facing a backlash from both inside and outside the LGBT community, proving that even the backlash has a backlash.