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 US 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 Recep Tayyip Erdogan to ease pressure on Saudi Arabia over the killing.
The White House said the story was “not accurate”.
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.
“At no point did Turkey offer to hold back on the Khashoggi investigation in return for Fethullah Gulen’s extradition,” the official said. “We have no intention to intervene in the Khashoggi investigation in return for any political or legal favour.”
Erdogan has long demanded that Washington extradite Gulen, who denies any involvement in the attempted coup and has lived in self-imposed exile in the United States since 1999.
US officials have said the courts need sufficient evidence to extradite the elderly cleric.
Gulen: has lived in self-imposed exile in the US since 1999.
