Turkey imposed a three-month state of emergency on Thursday, strengthening state powers to round up suspects behind the failed military coup and suspending a key European rights convention.

The moves came in defiance of growing global alarm over the extent of legal retribution after the coup that unsuccessfully tried to unseat President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but ended with some 50,000 alleged sympathisers in state offices losing their jobs and around 9,200 suspects detained.

After a marathon meeting of his national security council on Wednesday, Erdogan declared Turkey's first state of emergency since 2002, the year before he first came to power as prime minister.

It came into force on Thursday, almost a week after the rebel soldiers surged into the streets with tanks, bombing parliament and shooting protesters on a bloody night of turmoil that left 265 people dead.

Erdogan said emergency law would allow Turkey to be cleared of "terrorists" linked to US-based Muslim preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of orchestrating the failed coup from his leafy compound in Pennsylvania.

But Erdogan insisted democracy would "not be compromised" and lashed out at critics of the sweeping purge that has raised deep concerns about democracy and human rights in the key NATO member.

The extra powers, to restrict freedom of movement and other rights, were needed "to remove swiftly all the elements of the terrorist organisation involved in the coup attempt," Erdogan said.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said the special measures may only last up to 45 days, insisting that "we want to end the state of emergency as soon as possible".

Asked about whether the government may impose curfews, Kurtulmus said: "Very clearly no. This is not a declaration of martial law."

But he also said Turkey will suspend the European Convention on Human Rights, saying France had done the same after being targeted by a string of jihadist attacks.

"The road to arbitrary rule, unlawful behaviour, feeding on violence, has been chosen," complained the opposition Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP).

"Society has been forced to choose between a coup or an undemocratic government."

- Thousands protest -

Responding to a call by Erdogan not to stop protests, thousands of Turkish government supporters streamed across one of the two bridges spanning the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul to condemn the coup.

Many carrying lit torches, they carried nationalist signs like "Our flag, our nation" and brandished slogans denouncing Gulen, AFP correspondents said.

Kurtulmus said the coup had claimed a total of 265 lives, including 24 plotters and 241 citizens and members of he security forces who opposed them. Previously, the military had said over 100 coup plotters were killed.

Erdogan suggested there would be further detentions in the crackdown, which has already netted several widely known figures.

In a brief statement in Ankara early Friday, Erdogan said 10,410 people have so far detained and 4,060 remanded in custody.

Late Wednesday, a court remanded in custody Ali Yazici, the president's aide-de-camp who looked after military protocol on state occasions and was regularly seen by Erdogan's side, on charges of supporting the coup.

Courts have remanded in custody 109 out of 125 generals and admirals detained so far. Some been seen bruised and wounded in images published by state media.

"Of course that does not mean we have come to the end of it," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera.

- 'Mind your own business' -

The Turkish leader has fired back at critics of the government actions, telling France's Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault -- who had warned Erdogan not to use the failed coup as a carte blanche to silence his opponents -- to "mind his own business".

"If he wants a lesson in democracy, he can very easily get a lesson in democracy from us," Erdogan told Al-Jazeera.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier stressed it was "vital that the state of emergency is limited for the required time and then immediately lifted".

"Only acts which are legally punishable can be targeted, not political opinion."

Austria said it will summon Turkey's ambassador to discuss Ankara's "increasingly authoritarian" behaviour while the OSCE said a crackdown on pro-Gulen media was the latest challenge to press freedom in the country.

Even before the coup bid, critics had voiced mounting concern about Erdogan's efforts to to silence his opponents and clamp down on the press.

Turkey has stepped up pressure on Washington to extradite Gulen, sending several "dossiers" it says are packed with evidence about his alleged involvement.

Gulen has urged Washington to reject the extradition call and dismissed as "ridiculous" the claim he was behind the botched coup.

Erdogan, asked if other countries could have been involved in the coup, told Al-Jazeera: "There could be."

Turkey's state of emergency
Istanbul (AFP) July 21, 2016 - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has declared a three-month state of emergency from Thursday, saying it was needed to hunt down the "terrorists" behind last week's attempted coup.

Ankara said it would also suspend the European Convention on Human Rights, pointing out that France had taken similar action and declared a state of emergency after jihadist attacks.

The European rights charter allows signatory states to derogate some obligations during "war or other public emergency threatening the life of the nation".

Erdogan said the emergency measure was needed "to remove swiftly all the elements of the terrorist organisation involved in the coup attempt" -- but he also vowed Turkey would make no "compromises on democracy".

Rights group Amnesty International warned the steps must not "be used as a pretext to further clamp down on freedom of expression and protections against arbitrary detention and torture".

The opposition pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party charged Erdogan's move "shows the coup attempt might have been blocked, but the desire to rule the country with coup-like, authoritative mentality is not".

International law says such emergency measures must only be declared to counter genuine security threats to the nation, and be proportionate in scope and duration.

How is an emergency decreed?

Erdogan announced the measure shortly before midnight Wednesday after national security council and cabinet meetings.

The Turkish constitution's Article 120 allows a state of emergency to be imposed in times of turmoil.

It can be triggered "in the event of serious indications of widespread acts of violence aimed at the destruction of the free democratic order ... or of fundamental rights and freedoms, or serious deterioration of public order because of acts of violence".

The declaration entered into force with its publication in the Official Gazette early Thursday and was formally approved hours later by parliament, sailing through by a wide margin of 346-115 votes.

What concrete steps are planned?

A state of emergency gives broad powers to the executive, allowing the Turkish president and his Council of Ministers to rule by decree, and increases the jurisdiction of governors.

The constitution does not detail other steps but says "the exercise of fundamental rights and freedoms can be partially or fully suspended" as long as this does not violate international law.

Governments have in the past limited the freedoms of speech, movement and assembly and censored media during emergencies.

Amnesty said it feared Turkish authorities could use it to extend the period of pre-charge detention, impose arbitrary restrictions on expression and peaceful assembly, and deny the right of civil servants to appeal their suspensions and dismissals.

Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus assured journalists that the government did not plan a civil rights crackdown.

Asked whether there may be curfews, he said: "Very clearly no. This is not a declaration of martial law."

Hikmet Sami Turk, a former justice and defence minister, told AFP that emergency powers "open the way for the removal of some rights and freedoms".

"Exceptional measures can be taken ... but they cannot contradict basic principles" including the right to life and prohibition of torture.

How long will it last?

The Turkish constitution provides that a state of emergency can last six months -- and be either lifted or extended by repeated four-month periods by parliament.

Erdogan announced that the state of emergency would be introduced for three months.

Kurtulmus then assured media that "we want to end state of emergency as soon as possible.

"If conditions return to normal, we think it will take one or one and half month period at the maximum," he said. "I hope there will be no need for further extension."

Turkey previously lifted its last state of emergency in 2002.

It had been imposed in 1987 in provinces in the southeast for the fight against Kurdish militants.