Persian Gulf

We, the Undersigned wish to educate, and inform you of the history of Persian Gulf, and Oppose any name change attempts by any organization or government. Centuries ago, in the Latin American geography books the Persian Gulf has been referred to as More Persicum or the Sea of Pars (1). The Latin term "Sinus Persicus" is equivalent to "Persicher golf" in French, "Persico qof" in Italian, "Persidskizalir" in Russian and "Perusha Wan" that all mean "Pars" (2).

The Greek historian Herodotus repeatedly referred to the Red Sea as the "Arab Gulf" (3), and Straben, the Greek historian wrote: Arabs are living between the Arabian Gulf and the Persian Gulf (4). There are undeniable legal evidences and documents in confirmation of the genuineness of the term Persian Gulf. From 1507 to 1560 in all the agreements that Portuguese, Spanish, British, Dutch, French and Germans concluded with the Iranian government or in any other political event everywhere there is a mention of the name Persian Gulf (5).

The document for the independence of Kuwait signed on June 19, 1961 by Abdullah As-Salem As-Sabah refers to "Al-Khalij al-Farsi" in the Arabic texts and "Persian Gulf" in English texts, and has been registered in the Secretariat of the United Nations according to article 102 of the U.N. Charter and can be invoked at any U.N. office (6).


Since the beginning of the 20th century, the name "Persian Gulf" has been used in geography and history books with less reference to the "Fars Sea". Such a change has suggested the idea that the "Fars Sea" had been an old name substituted by a new term "Persian Gulf" (7) in 1930s efforts for changing the name of Persian Gulf was heightened when Sir Charles Bellgrave, the British diplomatic envoy in Iranian island of Mishmâhig, which today known as Bahrain opened a file for the change in the name of the Persian Gulf and proposed the issue to the British Foreign Office.

The United Nations with its 22 Arab member countries has on two occasions officially declared the unalterable name of the sea between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula as the Persian Gulf. The first announcement was made through the document UNAD, 311/Qen on March 5, 1971 and the second was UNLA 45.8.2 (C) on August 10, 1984. Moreover, the annual U.N. conference for coordination on the geographical names has emphatically repeated the name "Persian Gulf" each year (8).

Although using the "Arabian Gulf" instead of the "Persian Gulf" has no basis and will not be accepted in any culture or language, however, it will not diminish our responsibility in expressing the reality and eliminating ambiguities as the main and oldest inhabitants of the region.


Footnotes:

1- Institute of Political and International Studies, series of articles of seminar on Persian Gulf issues,
page 135
2- Institute for Political and International Studies, selected Persian Gulf documents, volume 1, page
18, Institute of Political and International Studies, series of articles of seminar on Persian Gulf issues,
page 136.
3- Institute of Political and International Studies, selected Persian Gulf documents, pages 18-22,
Institute of Political and International Studies, series of articles of seminar on Persian Gulf issues,
page 137. Seyed Hassan Mousavi "A brief discussion on historical-political geography of the Persian Gulf..." sociology and humanities of Shiraz University, page 118. Mehdi Azimi, "Persia Gulf Political History", Port and Sea, page 22.
4- Institute of Political and International Studies, selected Persian Gulf documents, volume 1, page 22.
5- Institute of Political and International Studies, series of articles of seminar on Persian Gulf issues, page 148.
6- Institute of Political and International Studies, ibid, page 149.
7- Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, "Persian Gulf in return for history", political and economic, Nos. 105-106, page 26.
8- Pirouz Mojtahedzadeh, "Persian Gulf in return for history", Nos. 105-106, page 28