Turkey has ruled out any deal with the United States to scale down its investigation into the killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi if the U.S. expels a Muslim cleric who Ankara says was behind a failed coup two years ago. NBC News reported on Thursday that the Trump administration was exploring ways to remove cleric Fethullah Gulen and persuade President Tayyip Erdogan to ease pressure on Saudi Arabia over the killing. A senior Turkish official said the issues of Gulen’s extradition, which Turkey has long sought, and the investigation into who was behind Khashoggi’s killing at Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate last month, were separate issues.
