VOA's Persian program aired on 2/7/2005

From: Daniel Pourkesali [mailto:dpourkesali@hotmail.com]
Sent: Monday, February 07, 2005 2:40 PM
To: newsandviews@voanews.com
Cc: pgtf@iic.org
Subject: [PGO] VOA's Persian program aired on 2/7/2005

Dear Friends at Voice of America,

I'm writing in regard to your last night's (Feb. 7, 2005) Persian broadcast
of "News and Views" program during which Mr. Anoushiravan Kangarlou
conducted an interview with Mr. Roozbeh Farahanipour of Marze Por Gohar
(MPG) party in Los Angeles.

As a subscriber to MPG newsletter as well as an active taskforce member for
the Persian Gulf Online Organization (see http://www.persiangulfonline.org)
since 1998, I was intrigued at the claim made by Mr. Roozbeh that MPG was
the pioneer in protesting against recent National Geographic's misnaming of
Persian Gulf and the three Iranian islands.

Persian Gulf Online Organization is a non-political, non-partisan and
non-religious entity comprised of a network of volunteers across the globe
dedicated to preserving and protecting the historical name of Persian Gulf.
Our members continually maintain a close watch for any misuse of the proper
name for this body of water via emails, letters, phone calls, and faxes to
any would-be abuser, not for personal gains or fame but love of Iranian
history and Persian heritage.

The National Geographic misuse of the Persian Gulf name was first discovered
by the taskforce in late October which led to the routine action of letter
writing campaign, first of which was drafted on October 26, 2004. (Attached
below)

Subsequently, the taskforce requested assistance from National
Iranian-American Council (see http://www.niacouncil.org) which enjoys a
large membership and has a close proximity to NGS offices in DC to take the
lead in talks with National Geographic.

Other members, especially those in Tehran, also played a pivotal role with
their draft of letters and articles in Iranian papers such as Shargh
Newspaper, generating a great deal of national attention to this very
important matter.

As a reader of MPG's newsletters, I was pleased to see another Iranian
organization joining the pact in support of this issue once it had already
generated a great deal of attention in mainstream media, but their
involvement was hardly one of a pioneering nature.

As with any respectable news organization, I believe Voice Of America would
best serve its audience by doing better research and providing a wider array
of sources when reporting on a particular subject matter.

Best Regards,

Daniel M. Pourkesali
Leesburg, VA 20176
(703) 737-3862

Member Persian Gulf Taskforce
http://www.persiangulfonline.org

----- Original Message -----
From: Daniel Pourkesali
To: ngsforum@nationalgeographic.com
Cc: board@persiangulfonline.org ; pgtf@persiangulfonline.org
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 2:58 PM
Subject: Re: Persian Gulf

Dear person at National Geographic Society,

Thank you for your response to my letter in which I raised objection to your
establishment's recent blunder using an improper name for the Persian Gulf
which has been in use
since ancient times. Frankly, your attempt to justify this decision falls
far short of logic and reason.

You state that the Law of the Sea recognizes the extension of sovereignty
into the Persian Gulf by the surrounding countries. That is a valid
statement but has nothing to do with the historical name of the waterway.

Law of the sea only concerns the territorial boundaries of the neighboring
states which are undisputable. The label "Persian Gulf" does not in anyway
imply territorial claim by the country Iran (Persia) to the north any more
than the label 'Arabian Sea' convey such ownership by the governments on the
southern and eastern coasts of the Persian Gulf. Furthermore, theuse of a
fictional term on their official websites does not change such historical
facts.

Unless we all missed the name change ceremony at the United Nations, that
international body 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 reemphasizing that the official name for this
geographical area is Persian Gulf shared by Saudi Arabia, United Arab
Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, and the non-Arab state of Iran.
Moreover, the annual U.N. conference for coordination on the geographical
names has emphatically repeated the name "Persian Gulf" each year.

As you see this is clearly not a popularity contest and use of the label
"Arabian Gulf" in place of the "Persian Gulf" has no basis and should not be
accepted in any culture or language. It is up to respectable educational
and scientific institutions such as National Geographic to bear the
responsibility of express such historical facts as they are while trying to
eliminate any ambiguities from entering into their publications.

Thanks again for your attention to this very important matter.

Sincerely,

Daniel M. Pourkesali
Leesburg, VA
(703)737-3862

Member Persian Guf Online
http://www.persiangulfonline.org

From: ngsforum@nationalgeographic.com
To: "Daniel Pourkesali" <dpourkesali@hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: Persian Gulf
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 2004 07:38:54 -0400

Thank you for contacting the National Geographic Society.

The decision to use "Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf)" on our maps is due to the
increasing use of Arabian Gulf by the media, organizations, and
governments. Arab governments on the southern and eastern coasts of the
Persian Gulf use the term "Arabian Gulf" on their official websites and in
treaties (please see
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/PDFFILES/ARE_1993_Law.pdf).

The Law of the Sea recognizes the extension of sovereignty into the Persian
Gulf by the surrounding countries--and the concensus of the Arab states is
to name their part of this body of water the Arabian Gulf.

The use of Arabian Gulf is growing, but Persian Gulf is still the most
popular name.

Thank you for taking the time to write. Your letter will be circulated
among our editorial and cartographic staffs.

October 26, 2004

National Geographic Society
1145 17th Street N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036-4688

Dear Folks at National Geographic,

As a lifetime supporter and subscriber to your magazine, I'm writing to
express my utter astonishment and disappointment at your official
endorsement of a fabricated name for the body of water bound by Iran and
Arabian Peninsula.

It is hard to understand why a respectable educational and scientific
institution such as yours would make reference to the historically
recognized Persian Gulf by an unrecognized name in both print format as in
the latest Atlas of the World 2005 (Eighth Edition, ISBN: 0-7922-7543-8 &
ISBN: 0-7922-7542-x) and on the web
http://mapmachine.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/viewandcustomize.html?task=getMap&themeId=p7500

As members of Persian Gulf Taskforce (http://www.persiangulfonline.org), a
group of concerned world citizens defending the historical identity of
Persian Gulf, we often quote National Geographic as the premier source that
only uses accurate and authentic names of geographic locations including
the Persian Gulf when writing to the abusers (see
http://plasma.nationalgeographic.com/mapmachine/plates.html?id=7700)

Your latest action has unfortunately played right into the hands of history
revisionists and encourages those who are seek to alter the official and
internationally recognized name of the Persian Gulf. The only name that is
recognized and endorsed by the United Nations with its 22 Arab nations:

http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf

I await your response while assuming optimistically that your recent wrong
references to that body of water as the 'Arabian Gulf' are inadvertent
oversights that will be corrected immediately.

Thank you very much in advance for your attention to this crucial matter.

Sincerely yours,

Daniel M. Pourkesali
Member Persian Gulf Taskforce
Research & Publications Committe