Crossword Genius

Turkish commander edges away from heathen (3)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

aga

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'turkish commander' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'edges away from heathen' is the wordplay.
'edges away' says to take the centre (I've seen 'edging away' mean this).
'from' becomes 'emanative' (I've seen this before).
'heathen' becomes 'ga' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
The centre of 'emanative' is 'a'.
'a'+'ga'='AGA'

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for aga that I've seen before include "Muslim title of honour" , "Turkish governor" , "Palindromic Muslim title, as for Khan" , "--- Khan, title of the head of the Ismaili Muslims" , "Turkish ruler" .)

I've seen this clue in The Telegraph.
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