Two Turkish journalists held in jail for the last three months on hugely controversial charges of revealing state secrets were released early on Friday after Turkey's constitutional court ruled their rights had been violated.
Cumhuriyet newspaper's editor in chief Can Dundar and its Ankara bureau chief Erdem Gul emerged from the Silivri jail on the outskirts of Istanbul before dawn to be greeted by jubilant supporters and family, television pictures showed.
They had been detained since November over a report alleging that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's government tried to ship arms to Islamists in Syria. But the pair, who were held in jail for 93 days, are still set to stand trial under the charges on March 25 with prosecutors demanding multiple life terms.
"I think that this is a very historic ruling," Cumhuriyet quoted Dundar as saying as he left the prison alongside Gul. He noted the irony of being released on February 26, Erdogan's 62nd birthday.
"I think it is a nice gift for him. We will continue. We will have nice birthday gifts for him," said Dundar.
Dundar said he harboured no anger but would continue to defend rights "with a louder voice", saying 30 colleagues still remained behind bars. "We will continue to fight for press freedom until the concentration camp (Silivri jail) that you see behind us becomes a museum," he added.
Gul added: "This is not a story of 'I wish I had not done'. It's a story of 'I wish I can continue,'" he added.
The constitutional court had ruled that their "rights to personal liberty and security" and "freedom of expression and freedom of press" had been violated. The decision was overwhelmingly approved with 12 votes for and three against, Turkish media reports said. The case was then sent back to the lower criminal court which rubber-stamped the top court's decision, allowing the journalists to walk free.
Dundar and Gul were placed under arrest in late November over a report in May that claimed to show proof that a consignment of weapons seized at the border in January 2014 was bound for Syria. They have been formally charged with obtaining and revealing state secrets "for espionage purposes" and seeking to "violently" overthrow the Turkish government as well as aiding an "armed terrorist organization."