Persian Gulf festival set to be launched

A conference will be held on Sunday on the history and developments of Persian Gulf as part of a major national festival in honor of a like-named calendar day. Scientific personalities from Iran and abroad will speak to the conference about the international waterway and its role in global development. 12 papers will be read out in the conference and four panel discussions will be held on the theme. A series of programs will be carried out in the festival among which an exhibition of historical maps and documents. A book titled al-Masalek and al-Mamalek by abu Eshaq Estakhri, renowned geographer of the 11th century will also be unveiled as a longstanding proof to the Persian origin of the waterway. Relatives of Iranian martyrs who have laid their lives in the waterway will be honored in the festival during a ceremony where top researchers in the field too will be awarded. In another part of the festival, a human chain with over 5000 involved will be formed along the Bushehr coastline, bordering the Persian Gulf. At sea, crafts will parade honking their horns and the sea will be showered with flowers. An SMS competition themed with the calendar day will also be staged. In the wake of certain futile attempts to distort the historical title of the waterway, the IRI High Cultural Council approved a ratification in 2005 under which the tenth day of the second month (Ordibehesht) on the Iranian calendar (April 29, this year) was named after the waterway.