ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday urged the US and Britain to lift their bans on laptops and tablet computers in the cabin of flights from many Middle East and North African airports, including Istanbul.

“I hope that these nations, the United States and Britain, will review this and withdraw it as soon as possible,” Erdogan said in a televised interview.

Washington decided to ban electronic devices bigger than mobile phones on direct flights to the United States from 10 airports in seven Middle Eastern countries and Turkey.

Britain followed with a similar ban from five countries from the Middle East and northern Africa and Turkey.

Banning laptops and other electronic devices in cabins should in theory reduce the risk of their being used to hide a bomb, as scanners for checked luggage are usually more sophisticated.

The US ban affects around 50 flights per day from nine airlines: Royal Jordanian, EgyptAir, Turkish Airlines, Saudia, Kuwait Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Qatar Airways, Emirates and Etihad Airways.

The British ban affects 14 airlines: British Airways, EasyJet, Jet2.com, Monarch, Thomas Cook, Thomson, Turkish Airlines, Pegasus Airways, Atlas-Global Airlines, Middle East Airlines, Egyptair, Royal Jordanian, Tunis Air and Saudia.