I spent several years living in Turkey in the mid-1980s and early 1990s, and have lived in the area where a massive 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck earlier this week, with thousands of deaths.

During my time in Southeastern Turkey in 1991, working with Kurdish refugees, I got to know many Orthodox Christian Syrians living in that region.

It is so sad to see the pictures of devastation from this region this week, following the massive earthquake that struck there.

But what really angers is me is how the criminal government of the United States has caused thousands of Syrian deaths even before the earthquake happened, by unnecessarily bombing the people and ruining their economy through sanctions.

And now that the people of Syria are suffering even more because of this massive earthquake, the U.S. refuses to lift sanctions against the country to allow a greater flow of humanitarian aid to come into the country to help the survivors.