Just saw this Yahoo! News blog post: “U.S. military angers Iran by calling Persian Gulf ‘Arabian Gulf’“.
Sounds like something I would have written about two-or-three years ago … in fact, I did somewhere. I’ll have to go look for it.
Until then, we should remember that the UN recognizes the name “Persian” and not “Arabian”.
For more, here’s a UN report “Historical, Geographical and Legal Validity of the Name: PERSIAN GULF“.
How about we just call it “The Gulf” and move on?
So now the Islamic Solidarity Games have been called off because host-country Iran inscribed “Persian Gulf” on the tournament’s official logo and medals.
This, as we know from last week, is bad news (see Iran and the “Arabian Gulf”).
Check out the New York Times article: “Muslims Won’t Play Together.”
One of the things that struck me when we lived in Dubai was that everyone called the Persian Gulf by the name “Arabian Gulf”.
Guess it made sense, we were living in Arabia. Of course, the United Nations guidelines are clear:
The term “Persian Gulf” is used as the standard geographical designation for the sea area between the Arabian Peninsula and the Islamic Republic of Iran. The full term “Persian Gulf” is always used to designate that sea area when it is first referred to in a text and is repeated thereafter whenever necessary for the sake of clarity.
But Arab states still call it otherwise, upsetting Persians.
So what’re they going to do about it?
How about: “Iran Threatens Airline Ban Over “Arabian Gulf” Tag.”
Josh finally lives in Maine again
after four years at Boston University, a stint in Southern California with
Walt Disney Feature Animation,
and two years in Dubai, UAE,
where he created and wrote
Newlywed in Dubai.
