Italian journalist Gabriele Del Grande, detained in Turkey for more than a week, has gone on hunger strike to demand his release.

He was arrested on the Syrian border on April 10. Del Grande is also a human rights activist and in a phone call on Tuesday he complained he has not been charged but has had his belongings and phone confiscated and has been denied access to a lawyer.

His social media pages contain appeals for his release. He insists his papers were in order, and although under constant guard he is well and has not been harmed.

Del Grande is a blogging journalist and does not enjoy the protection of a news agency or organisation. He has also previously made documentaries raising human rights issues.

Among the some 180,000 arrests or people purged from state bodies since the failed 2016 coup are many journalists and human rights workers.