Erdogan did not provide full details about the swap, calling the people being exchanged "hostages" and not saying how many there were from each side.

Analysts believe the deal will ensure that Russia will continue to supply Turkey with gas through the TurkStream pipeline running under the Black Sea.

Turkey, which has friendly ties with both Moscow and Kyiv, has supplied Ukraine with drones and refused to join Western sanctions against Russia.

Turkey issued an international arrest warrant in April last year for fugitive businessman Faruk Fatih Ozer, who fled with a reported $2.0 billion in investors' assets.

Finding negotiated solution was easier in initial weeks of Ukraine war, says Mevlut Cavusoglu, adding that now, 'things have changed'

"We do not have eyes on the territory of Syria because the people of Syria are our brothers," Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying.

President Erdogan is visiting Ukraine to hold talks with President Zelenskyy and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres. Finding a solution to the prevailing crisis in the war-hit country is on the agenda of the meetings.

"Turkey, Finland, Sweden -- they signed a trilateral memorandum in Madrid to set this process in motion".

In recent weeks, Israeli media carried several reports claiming that attacks on citizens in Turkey were being planned.

Bayraktar TB2 is doing what it was supposed to do – taking out some of the most advanced anti-aircraft systems and advanced artillery systems and armoured vehicles.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed in October to undertake the "Strategic Mechanism" talks for which officials have now cleared the way.

In a wide-ranging television interview, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu sounded a cautious note about Turkey's future relations with the fundamentalist Islamist group.