18 January 1926 Extract from minute of the 124th meeting of the British Air Council: 20 January 1926 Report in Turkish Press: Operation of Air Transport Services by Foreign Undertakings in the Middle East The Council considers that although sooner or later foreign civil flying in the Middle East would have to be accepted, it was very desirable that this development should be postponed for as long as possible. Imperial Airways Limited, with whose Chairman Sir Eric Geddes, the Secretary of State had discussed this question, were anxious on their part that foreign undertakings should not be introduced until the Company had been firmly established. It was desirable to avoid too blunt a refusal of French proposals for connections between Angora and Baghdad or Teheran and Baghdad, but it should be emphasised that such projects were quite premature, having regard to the state of the country and the fact that the British service would not commence operations for another year at least. If a mail service of a serious character between Baghdad and Teheran were projected, and Imperial Airways were not prepared to run a service from Baghdad to the frontier, the carriage of mails on this section by the RAF would be considered.
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