To tell the truth, phrases used by Kirkkanat to describe these people made me uncomfortable.

Which is why I liked the response written by Ahmet Hakan.

***

But not everyone is of the same mind here.

The letter in front of me is signed by a female reader.

I won't reveal her name since I didn't receive permission from her.

Let's see what this Hurriyet reader has to say:

"Mine Kirikkanat could have gone on as far as I am concerned. I have seen these scenes along the Bosphorus. Whoever sees them wants to distance themselves from these people. Are they even Turkish?"

Complaints from Istanbul's Mayor, Kadir Topbas, were published in yesterday's Hurriyet. In them, he warns about people entering the sea and the Bosphorus waters in their underwear.

Truly, these are scenes which are not befitting of a civilized city.

And as a journalist, I believe we need to continue to criticize these scenes.

But the important point is this: in which style shall we criticize them?

Shall we use phrases which degrade, insult, and hurt people?

And when we do this, do we not fall to the level of the very baseness which we criticize in these people?

***

I see no difference between the crudeness of going swimming in your underwear and the crudeness of using a newspaper column to insult and make of fun of the people who do so.

So you may ask, what are my real thoughts on the situation?

Let me tell you about a trip I took last week.

I took a day's trip to the Ukranian capitol Kiev last week.

Our northern neighbor Ukraine has a population of 48 million.

Its gross national income is about a fouth of Turkey's.

Its per capita income is $1,300, or a third of the Turkish average.

So, this country is much poorer than Turkey.

That being the case however, I got the feeling, while walking the streets of Kiev, that it was a much richer country than Turkey.

I wonder why?

* * *

There were two reasons I could identify.

One was the architecture and lay out of the city.

Kiev is a well protected city.

It is not covered in gece kondus (shanty towns).

Despite a lack of money, the older buildings have been restored.

There is a plan to the city.

Anyway, the second reason Kiev seems richer than Istanbul is the people.

Especially the women.

Most of the people wear presentable clothes.

They act civilized.

There is no one having barbeques in the streets.

There is no one going swimming on the shores of the Dinyeper River in their underwear.

The youth having fun in city centers are not crude.

This being said however, Istanbul is probably about 50 years ahead of Kiev as a city.

***  

I learned from newspapers while there that one of the new favorite activities for rich Ukranians is to hop a plane and come to clubs on the shores of the Bosphorus, arriving back in Kiev in the morning.

So Istanbul is an attractive center.

But unfortunately, there are sights in Istanbul which make us all uncomfortable.

These scenes make our city and even country look more backward than we really are.

Which is why I say, we, as journalists, should criticize these crude sights. But definitely not in the style of Mine Kirikkanat.