The release of two Turkish journalists has been described by one of them as a “clear defeat” for the country’s president.

Can Dundar from opposition newspaper Cumhuriet was speaking to reporters with his freed colleague Erdem Gul.

Both were released after a ruling by Turkey’s top court that their rights had been violated.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said he does not respect the court’s decision.

“We have a president who is not accustomed to defeat,” said Can Dundar, Cumhuriet’s editor-in-chief. “Rather than accepting the ruling, he is seeking to turn it into a state crisis. He said he would not recognise or obey the ruling. This is the first time in the history of the Turkish Republic that a president has said he will not obey a decision.”

The two journalists were detained after their newspaper published material it said shows intelligence officials trucking arms to Syria in 2014.

The two journalists, who still face trial and potential life sentences,