Gulf National Day

Since 1964, Arab countries have tried to change the historical name of the bay to the Arabian Gulf. They did this by actively introducing a new toponym in their media. The Iranian side, in turn, called these efforts politically motivated. However, when Arab-speaking countries began to impose a change in the name of the Gulf in foreign languages, including English, Iran announced the establishment of National Persian Gulf Day to preserve and consolidate the historical name. After many meetings ^[1] , seminars and conferences held by the Iranian scientific community, the government ratified and passed a law establishing April 30 National Day of the Persian Gulf ^[2] .

April 30 is the victory day of Abbas I the Great : he conducted a successful military campaign against the Portuguese fleet in the Persian Gulf in 1622. As part of the operation to capture the island of Hormuz, Portuguese colonial forces were driven out of the Strait of Hormuz. The decision to choose a date was made by the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, chaired by former Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami. This was a kind of hint of the Iranian government to the League of Arab States: in 1514, the Portuguese captured the island of Hormuz and built a fortress on it. This territory remained their possessions for over a century. In the end, they were defeated by Iran, and a few years later they lost all the colonial territories in East Africa .

Gulf Day is a very important holiday for the Iranian people. It has been held annually since 2004. Various festive ceremonies are held all over Iran, the most magnificent holidays are held in the coastal cities of the Persian Gulf, such as Bushehr and Bandar Abbas. The postal company IRI has issued a series of stamps dedicated to National Gulf Day.

According to the book “Documents on the name of the Persian Gulf”, the term “Persian Gulf” and its equivalents in foreign languages ​​have been used in geography and cartography since 400 BC. e. The name "Persian Gulf" was used even in Arabic ( Arabic. الخليج الفارسي ).

In 1964, the League of Arab States ratified the change of the name of the bay to "Arabian Gulf" ( Arabic. الخليج العربي ). After the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988, the law entered into force. This move provoked the indignation of the Iranians, especially when the Arabs began to actively use the new name in their media in English ^[3] .

At this time, Iranian geographers and historians were actively engaged in the study of the issue. On almost all maps printed around the world until 1960, as well as in most international treaties, the Gulf is known as the Persian Gulf. This name has been traditional in world cartography since the time of ancient Greek geographers and philosophers Ptolemy and Strabo . Ancient maps eloquently demonstrate the geopolitical realities of that era: the Persian Empire controlled almost the entire coastline of the bay.

In ancient times, the term "Arabian Gulf" denoted the modern Red Sea. On the maps of the New Time, the Red Sea was already called the "Red". Keeping the tradition of cartographers of antiquity, the geographers of the New Age also continued to call the Persian Gulf “Persian”.

The Iranian side does not recognize the name "Arabian Gulf" or "Gulf", considering the latter version a kind of trick for people to abandon the historical name. In February 2010, Iran issued a decree by which Iran’s airspace may be closed to any airline that does not use the term “Persian Gulf” ^[4] .

In 2004, there was a total overload of Google, arranged by Iranian Internet users. Iranian hackers set up a hacked service so that when searching for the phrase “Arabian Gulf”, the first link to a page that advises you no longer to search for “Arabian Gulf” ^[5] .