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<font face="Verdana">Lot's of context and references were presented,
different compromises and tagging schemes proposed. Those willing
to form a non-biased rational opinion, the historical, political,
cultural and religious motives behind the issue were able and
given the opportunity to do so.</font>
<p><font face="Verdana">The term international waters is an informal
term (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_waters</a>)
used to reference any waters outside the Territorial waters,
Archipelagic waters, Contiguous zone and Exclusive economic
zones (EEZs), in the UNCLOS III agreement mostly referred to as
Continental plate and High seas. Although it's an informal term
it is generally known. (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Convention_on_the_Law_of_the_Sea</a>
, )<br>
As you probably know, UNCLOS III is the International Convention
on the Law of the Sea, ratified since 1994, by consensus and a
large group of countries around the world. Some countries have
not ratified it but do acknowledge adherence and compliance to
most of the contents in the treaty that apply here.</font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana">When it comes to "local use" of the term
"Arabic Gulf" the verification which we can make is:<br>
- the member states of the GCC (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Cooperation_Council">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Cooperation_Council</a>),
all Arabic speaking countries, are the only verifiable
authoritative or official resource sometimes using the term
"Arabic Gulf" for these waters in non-official communication.<br>
until now I couldn't find any official document that uses the
term "Arabic Gulf", neither "Persian Gulf". The GCC member
states are all constitutional or absolute monarchies. With all
due respect, but one could question to what extend there opinion
reflect the general opinion of their people or just the private
interests of the monarchies. The GCC was established during the
Iran - Iraq war and both their logo, the use of only Arabic on
the logo and the use of "Gulf" in the name (not "Persian Gulf"
and NOT "Arabian Gulf") reflects the main political motives as
excluding and acting against Iran. This is publicly and
internationally known and acknowledged, so it doesn't make sense
to deny this. No one here makes a statement if this is
justified, appropriate due to their policies or the policies
practised by the Iranians.</font></p>
<font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- The majority of
historical maps, even those in Arabic, refer to the waters as
"Persian Gulf". "Arabic Gulf" was historically used by a few
British during the colonial era and Arab countries part of the
Arab Peninsula (<a
href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf_naming_dispute">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persian_Gulf_naming_dispute</a>).
So far I haven't found any maps or charts, neither current or
historical established by international communities or
authorities that use the name "Arabic Gulf". In the contrary,
some historical maps exist where the Red Sea was named Arabian
Gulf instead of the Persian Gulf, which adds only more
confusion. On some historical Arabic maps, on display in Arabic
countries of the GCC, "Persian" has been purposely removed from
"Persian Gulf".<br>
</font></font>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- No one denies the
fact that "Arabian Gulf" is used by the GCC, the monarchies of
the countries of the Arabian Peninsula or their supporters.
This can justify the use "Arabian Gulf" in the alt_name OSM
key or some local_name variants, as is already proposed by
several OSM members here in respect to local use and local
communities, being it minorities or majorities.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- To my knowledge no
one has ever officially requested a name change in the
international community, being it the UNGEGN (<a
href="https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/statistics/standardization-of-geographical-names.html">https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/statistics/standardization-of-geographical-names.html</a>),
the FAO or other UN organisations, to change the name from
"Persian Gulf" to "Arabic Gulf" or use them side by side as
official internationally recognised names. Some countries use
the term "Gulf", as the USA does in a minority of instances. I
don't make any conclusion anywhere for their motives but be
aware that the USA is not the world community and is the most
important party that has not ratified UNCLOS III.<br>
- A personal observation: "Arabic Gulf" is mostly used by
Sunni Muslims, it's different for Shia Muslims which make up a
large group of local Arabic speaking people around the Gulf.
Again, I don't make a conclusion here or take a political,
cultural or religious point of view, it is an objective yet
personal observation both from having visited multiple
countries in the region, member states of the GCC and Iran.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- Argumentation that
the majority, in numbers, of people around the Gulf are Arabic
speaking and therefore support or use an official name "Arabic
Gulf" is not supported by independent concrete studies,
enquiries or surveys, thus should not belong in the OSM name
field. Neither does the fact that the longest stretch of
coastal line around the Gulf is occupied by Arabic speaking
countries gives neither of the states a fundamental right to
determine the official international name for the
international waters.<br>
</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">When it comes to
"official use" of the term "Persian Gulf":<br>
</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- The majority of the
international community, being it the UN (<a
href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/persian_gulf.htm">https://www.un.org/depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/persian_gulf.htm</a>,
<a
href="https://www.un.org/depts/los/nippon/unnff_programme_home/alumni/tokyo_alumni_presents_files/alum_tokyo_dehghani.pdf">https://www.un.org/depts/los/nippon/unnff_programme_home/alumni/tokyo_alumni_presents_files/alum_tokyo_dehghani.pdf</a>),
FAO (<a href="http://www.fao.org/fishery/facp/IRN/en">http://www.fao.org/fishery/facp/IRN/en</a>),
Nautical charts, Wikipedia etc... in most cases uses "Persian
Gulf", which makes it justified as the ONLY name to be used
with the OSM key:name.</font></font><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana"><br>
</font></font> </p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- The Iranians did
bring a comprehensive investigative historical report to the </font></font><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana">UNGEGN</font></font>. Being it biased or
not, complete or not, was not concluded in this UN group.
Neither should we disrespect the extensive and professional
work done by the scientists, no matter what nationality they
have, unless you can come up with significant facts that prove
the contrary and the courage to present and discuss it
publicly, references and verification through reputed channels
and in the UN.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana">- Despite the fact that Iran and some other
states around the Gulf didn't ratify the UNCLOS III, Iran has
made multiple bilateral agreements, with member states of the
GCC, to resolve any territorial claims and rights (<a
href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LIS-25.pdf">https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LIS-25.pdf</a>,
<a
href="https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20787/volume-787-I-11197-English.pdf">https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%20787/volume-787-I-11197-English.pdf</a>,
<a
href="https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/qatar/qatar-iran-to-sign-key-agreements-1.577249">https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/qatar/qatar-iran-to-sign-key-agreements-1.577249</a>).
All literature and media about them use either "Persian Gulf" or
"Gulf" or other internationally accepted names when it comes to
the formulation of the agreements. In most cases, the treaties
as signed by both parties, use British Admiralty Nautical Maps
to illustrate the exact boundaries they agreed upon. </font><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">British Admiralty Nautical
Maps use the name "Persian Gulf" only.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">- All admiralty charts
that I found use "Persian Gulf" only (<a
href="https://www.stanfords.co.uk/admiralty-chart-folio-40-persian-gulf_si00003832">https://www.stanfords.co.uk/admiralty-chart-folio-40-persian-gulf_si00003832</a>,
<a
href="https://www.marinechandlery.com/admiralty-chart-q6111-maritime-security-chart-persian-gulf-and-arabian-sea">https://www.marinechandlery.com/admiralty-chart-q6111-maritime-security-chart-persian-gulf-and-arabian-sea</a>)<br>
</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">Opting for the A/B
solution is in my opinion trying to force rendering. We don't
tag or map for the renderer. If there are renderers that
display alt_name or local_name keys it's fine, the data is
there.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">Opting for "Arabian
Gulf" in the name key is also forcing rendering. Those
renderers that display only the name:language fields will be
different in Arabic, which is not desired, neither for
minorities or majorities in the world or local community.
Searching for a similar term on a map in a different language
will be confusing.</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">Opting to leave the
name field empty, to ease the situation, even if just
temporary, doesn't have my support. We don't do this for other
disputed or conflict areas either and because of it's open and
free character any user, even unaware of the issue or this
discussion might change it in a blink as we maintain all other
keys. This can incite the same vandalism and discussion again
with the local communities, so we should resolve it. Don't
leave it empty. I also believe that as a community we can make
a consensus instead of acting and avoiding it like Google (<a
href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18108246">https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-18108246</a>),
being disrespectful to any local community, being it Iranian
or Arab.<br>
I don't favour the local_name:country option as again these
might incite the same issues. As f.i. Qatar, having recently
signed some bilateral agreements with Iran, might not want to
be listed as such user or promoter of "Arabian Gulf". This
could however work if both terms are used to reflect the use
of both minorities as majorities.<br>
</font></font></p>
<p><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">So my proposal for the
compromise remains:<br>
name = Persian Gulf<br>
alt_name = Arabian Gulf; Gulf; Gulf of Iran; Gulf of Basra (in
any particular order, all same significant)<br>
name:fa = Persian Gulf (translated and as common official term
in Farsi);<br>
alt_name:fa = </font></font><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">Arabian
Gulf; Gulf; Gulf of Iran; Gulf of Basra (</font></font></font></font><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">translated
and as common official term in Farsi</font></font>,
any particular order, all same significant)</font></font><br>
name:ar = Persian Gulf (translated and as common official term
in Arabic);<br>
alt_name:ar = </font></font><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">Arabian
Gulf; Gulf; Gulf of Iran; Gulf of Basra (</font></font></font></font><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font
face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana"><font face="Verdana">translated
and as common official term in Farsi</font></font>,
any particular order, all same significant)</font></font></font></font><br>
Any other name:language fields follow the same principle.</p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p>Bert Araali<br>
</p>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:87tulwco5n.fsf@tfwno.gf">
</blockquote>
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