Google Maps originally identified the body of water as the Persian Gulf. Then after being peppered constantly by Arabs, it inserted “(Arabian Gulf)” under the words Persian Gulf. That angered Iranians. Now Google has tried to duck the issue by the simple expedient of putting no name on the body of water.
That, however, has incensed the Iranian community again, and it is now being dunned by more communications demanding that the term Persian Gulf be returned.
A few years ago, the National Geographic faced an onslaught when it put “(Arabian Gulf)” in small letters under Persian Gulf.
The Economist of London tried to duck the furor of Arabs and Iranians by labeling its maps, “The Gulf.” That didn’t work either.
The naming controversy is always exploited in the Islamic Republic, which likes to portray the issue as some kind of imperialist conspiracy against Iran and the Iranian people.
If Google Maps users search on “Persian Gulf,” they will be taken to such a map—but they will not find any label saying “Persian Gulf” or anything else, while nearby bodies of water, like the Gulf of Oman, are clearly marked.
Deputy Culture Minister Bahman Dori condemned Google Maps and said its action will “prove ineffective.” He said, “By fabricating lies, Google Ö will see no outcome but that its users lose all trust in the data the company provides.”
He blamed not only Arab countries but also “global arrogance” (the West) for trying to change the name of the Persian Gulf. The United States, however, recognizes “Persian Gulf” as the official name for use by the US government for the body of water. But the US government doesn’t tell anyone but US government agencies what names to use for bodies of water.
The Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) ran an interview last week with Hossain Alai, a university lecturer in Tehran, calling Google Maps action “illegal, politically-motivated and against international norms”—the pantheon of charges most often heard in the Islamic Republic when something disliked has originated abroad.
Alai said the Islamic Republic should file charges against Google Maps for its illegal act.
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) also joined in and invited Iranian-Americans to sign an open letter to Google CEO Larry Page appealing to the firm “to stop playing name games with the Persian Gulf and to use the correct name.”
NIAC President Trita Parsi said, “Google is not sidestepping a political controversy here, they are helping create one. By removing the internationally recognized name of the Persian Gulf, Google is opening up a debate that serves no purpose but to help the region’s unaccountable governments exploit ethnic and political divisions for their own gain.”
The Persian Gulf is not the only body of water subject to a naming controversy. There are a number of others as people on either side try to name the body of water between after themselves.
The biggest such controversy involves the body of water between Japan and Korea. It is commonly known as the Sea of Japan. South Koreans say that is a holdover from the days of Japanese imperialism. Japan occupied the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945.
Last month, South Korea appealed to the International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) to have that sea labeled the East Sea, as Koreans have long called it. The IHO took no action.
No Arab state has yet gone to the IHO appealing for a change in the naming of the Persian Gulf, which has been the official body for naming bodies of water since 1929.
And, so far, no one has suggested renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of Texas.”