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President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday he does not obey or respect the decision by the Constitutional Court declaring that the imprisonment of two prominent journalists for a report on alleged illegal arms transfers to Syria amounted to a violation of their rights.

Cumhuriyet Editor-in-Chief Can Dündar and its Ankara representative Erdem Gül were freed in the early hours of Friday after 92 days in jail following the top court’s ruling. The court said the journalists’ right to freedom and security, the right to express their thoughts and freedom of the press under articles 19, 26 and 28 of the Constitution, respectively, were violated.

“The Constitutional Court may have reached such a verdict. I would only remain silent. I am not in a position to accept it,” Erdoğan told reporters before departing for a visit to African countries. “I do not obey it nor do I respect it.”

Dündar and Gül were arrested on charges of espionage and aiding a terrorist organization in November after the publication of video footage purporting to show the National Intelligence Organization (MİT) helping to send weapons to Syria when they were intercepted in 2014 by gendarmerie forces. The arrest drew international condemnation and revived concern about media freedom in Turkey.

Erdoğan, who had described the interception of the MİT trucks as an act of espionage aimed at undermining Turkey internationally, vowed that Dündar would pay a “heavy price” for reporting on the incident. “I will not let him go [unpunished],” he said back in November.

“The media cannot have unlimited freedom. These reports are an attack on the current president of this country,” Erdoğan said on Sunday. “This has nothing to do with freedom of expression at all. This is an espionage case.”

He also said the İstanbul 14th High Criminal Court, which is overseeing the two journalists’ trial and ruled for their release in line with the decision of the Constitutional Court, could have resisted the top court’s ruling and refused to free them.

“That would have invalidated the Constitutional Court ruling or those who were freed would have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights,” he said.

Despite their release from prison, Dündar and Gül are still facing possible life sentences in a trial, which is due to start on March 25. The indictment against the two journalists seeks an aggravated life sentence, a life sentence and 30 years of imprisonment on separate charges including “obtaining and revealing secret information pertaining to the security of the state for espionage purposes,” “seeking to overthrow the Turkish government” and “aiding an armed terrorist organization.”

Erdoğan’s remarks lead to strong criticisms

Erdoğan’s remarks on the Constitutional Court’s decision about Gül and Dündar attracted strong criticisms from intellectuals, jurists and politicians.

Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Deputy Chairman Sezgin Tanrıkulu said Erdoğan has to respect and implement both the Constitution and the decisions of constitutional institutions as befitting his current position.

Tanrıkulu said: “A president cannot disregard the Constitution. If he says such a thing, this clearly implies he also does not respect the current constitutional order in the country. He is also encouraging people not to respect the Constitution and the court rulings.”

Bülent Tezcan, the deputy parliamentary group chairman of the CHP, also reacted against Erdoğan’s statement on Twitter on Sunday. He said Erdoğan does not recognize the Constitution, adding, “Now, he [Erdoğan] is calling on the courts to not recognize the laws and the Constitution.”

Constitutional law professor and Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) deputy Mithat Sancar said he was not surprised by Erdoğan’s recent statement, underlining Erdoğan has not been respecting constitutional laws since he was elected president in August 2014. “Not only with his statements, he has also violated the Constitution with his acts. One of the most typical violation is engaging in an electoral campaign as though he was the chairman of a political party [ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party)] before the June 7 election,” Sancar said.

Saying Erdoğan engaged in similar acts that do not comply with the Constitution while he was serving as prime minister before he was elected president, Sancar stated: “Actually, the AK Party has never been at peace with the rule of law. When it feels it is necessary, it puts the laws aside. When it also feels the need, it uses these laws against its opponents in the harshest manner.”

Responding to critics who accuse him of violating his constitutional limits, Erdoğan had said he was elected by the nation and is determined to use his authorities “to the end.”

“You can either accept it or not. Turkey’s government system has been de facto changed in this regard. What should be done now is to finalize the legal framework of this de facto situation with a new Constitution,” Erdoğan said during a speech on Aug. 16, 2015.

‘Erdoğan staged a coup on anniversary of Feb. 28’

CHP deputy Özgür Özel held a press conference in Parliament on Sunday. Reminding that Sunday marks the anniversary of the Feb. 28, 1997 post-modern coup, Özel accused Erdoğan of staging a coup on the anniversary of Feb. 28 coup.

“Erdoğan made a coup against the judiciary on the anniversary of Feb. 28. He attempted to adjust the higher judiciary,” Özel stated.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) parliamentary group chairman Oktay Vural said Erdoğan has admitted that Turkey is no longer a state being ruled by law. Speaking at a press conference in Parliament on Sunday, Vural said that Erdoğan also gave an order to the local court during his speech, but Erdoğan had promised to respect the supremacy of law during his presidential oath.

“If you say you don’t respect the court ruling, this means you don’t think of a state as being ruled by law. There is no supremacy of law, but you have the law of superiors in your mind. This one-man, pro-coup mindset is against the rule of law and the supremacy of law. This is a typical example of the Feb. 28 [coup],” Vural maintained.

Contemporary Journalists Association (ÇGD) President Ahmet Abakay said the president is obligated to respect the Constitutional Court. “However, we know that the president does not respect even the Constitution via his practices and statements. This situation does not comply with a democratic country. The state administrators have to respect the laws, Constitution and the judicial bodies and they are binding for them. But now in Turkey, the administrators do not respect the law,” Abakay said.

Pointing to Erdoğan’s remarks that the trial of Dündar and Gül was not a case of freedom of expression but an espionage case, Abakay said this is not true. He added: “This is not an espionage case. For a journalist, whether a report is factual or not is important. Erdoğan has never said the report [of Cumhuriyet daily] was a lie. He even confirmed it by saying, ‘So what if the trucks were filled with weapons?’ Reporting is the duty of those friends [Gül and Dündar] and they just did their job.”

Commenting on Erdoğan’s remarks that the local court should have resisted the ruling of the top court, Abakay also said his statement was actually a clear threat against those judges who gave the decision. “He tells the judges in what way they should give their rulings,” Abakaya added.

Veteran journalist Hasan Cemal also posted a tweet on the issue on Sunday, stating: “I don’t know what to say; you become tongue-tied, when you look at Erdoğan’s reactions against the Constitutional Court’s ruling. I repeat this: Stability is nothing more than a dream in a country with Erdoğan, who is disregarding the law in such level.”

Journalist Özgür Mumcu addressed Erdoğan in a tweet on Sunday, saying: “You are now in your palace because the Constitutional Court, which you say don’t respect, did not decide to shut down your party previously. If people also had not respected that ruling of the court, where would you be now?”

Emin Çapa, CNN Türk’s senior economy editor, also commented on the issue, saying that Erdoğan can say that he does not agree with the ruling, but he holds a position in which he is obligated to respect court rulings and implement those rulings.

The Constitutional Court’s ruling, which Erdoğan is highly critical of, was praised by members of the European Parliament, Council of Europe and diplomats on Friday.

Pointing out that the top court’s ruling reveals its implicit acknowledgment that pre-trial imprisonment is an act of illegal confinement, Rebecca Harms, president of the Greens in the European Parliament, noted that freedom of expression and opinion must not be labeled a criminal offense since pluralism and freedom of speech are basic prerequisites of a viable democracy.

Daniel Höltgen, Council of Europe spokesman, said in a statement on Thursday evening that he was glad to hear of the Constitutional Court’s decision to release the two journalists. “I trust that the Constitutional Court will continue to assert itself for the sake of freedom of expression in Turkey, relying on the European Convention on Human Rights,” Höltgen said.

Commenting on the Constitutional Court’s decision on her Twitter account on Thursday evening, European Parliament’s Turkey rapporteur Kati Piri also welcomed the ruling and said both Dündar and Gül should be freed soon.