National Geographic Society changes name of Persian Gulf - Arabian Gulf

[seemslikeadream]

To: National Geographic Society

Dear National Geographic Editors,

We the undersigned, through this letter, protest your irresponsible and unscientific actions.

This letter is in concern of publication of a map by your organization, which, according to all international organizations, is fraudulent and distorted, and its publication guarantees the violation of undeniable international legal rights.

It is a proven scholarly fact that the name of the Persian Gulf is a genuine name, with historical roots, and using any fraudulent names such as the “Arabian Gulf”, and islands “Occupied by Iran” is in fact inducing political animosity.

We did not expect National Geographic, as a prestigious international scientific institution, to ignore the proven obvious, and damage its own reputation on the basis of political intentions, and thus create an atmosphere of public mistrust in its content, and hurt the national pride of the millions of Persian speakers while doing so.
more
http://www.petitiononline.com/persian/petition.html

[LSdemocrat]

1. Actually, they are using both names, with Persian Gulf as the main one

On their maps, they have Persian Gulf as the main name and Arabian Gulf in parenthesis.

Here's a link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/12/02/MNGPQA4V7B1.DTL

"In its latest world atlas, National Geographic added the name "Arabian Gulf" in parentheses beneath "Persian Gulf" on a map to label the body of water that cuts along the coasts of Iran and its Arab neighbors."

On edit: added link

[Squatch]

2. How can the name of the gulf affect national pride?

It's a gulf, not a country.