TEHRAN -- The Persian Gulf is its legitimate name and the cultural issue of the name of the body of water should not be politicized, artist Ahmad Vakili says.

Vakili, who is also the secretary of the Iranian international painting symposium entitled “From Persepolis to the Persian Gulf”, which will run from February 10 to 19, stated that a selection of renowned artists from Iran and other countries will be attending the event.
“They will travel first to Shiraz and visit Persepolis, Pasargadae, and the mausoleums of Sadi and Hafez. Afterwards, they will make a trip to Qeshm Island in the Persian Gulf, where they will create their artworks,” Vakili told the Persian service of ISNA.
Farzaneh Jalali, Dariush Hosseini, Khosrow Khosravi, Shima Khashkhashi, Karim Nasr and Reza Hedayat are among the Iranian artists. The foreign artists are coming from Switzerland, Slovakia, Italy, France, Mexico, and several other countries.
He further noted that the organizers preferred to invite European artists for the symposium, saying, “I hardly believe the Arab artists would attend such a program under the title of Persian Gulf. They should know that when nine international artists, along with nine Iranian painters, work directly on the same project, the message will reach their citizens across the world. If we mix it with politics, we would go beyond its artistic aspect,” he added.
“The major goal in all symposiums is the intellectual association of the participants with a challenging mentality”, said Vakili, adding, “This event is a great to honor Persepolis with its thousand years of history and it is located in our country. On the other side, the Arab countries are trying to distort the name of the Persian Gulf. This symposium will try to introduce it with the same name of Persian Gulf to the world.”
There is no restriction on the materials to be used by the artists but the dimensions are limited due to the exhibiting space, Vakili said, adding that the selected works would finally go on show in Bandar Abbas and Tehran.
The symposium is co-sponsored by the Rudaki Foundation and the Hormozgan Department of Culture and Islamic Guidance.