Sinan Ogan, the presidential candidate of the ATA Alliance, won 5.2% of the vote in the election on May 14. Incumbent President Erdogan won 49.4% while the second-placed opposition candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu had 44.9%.
Mr. Sinan Ogan speaks in Ankara on May 22.
As no candidate won more than 50%, the election will go into a second round between Mr Erdogan and Mr Kilicdaroglu on May 28.
Last week, Mr. Ogan met with President Erdogan and Mr. Kilicdaroglu's allies. Speaking on television on May 22, Mr. Ogan said he would support President Erdogan, according to AFP.
The ATA coalition disbanded after none of its candidates won seats in parliament in parallel elections on May 14, according to Middle East Eye . Zafer Partisi, leader of the coalition's Victory Party, announced on May 22 that he had withdrawn from the group and would now remain independent.
Mr Ogan's performance was seen as a victory as most pre-election polls predicted he would hardly win more than 3% of the vote.
The ultra-nationalist candidate built his campaign on a pledge to send refugees in Türkiye back to their home country, and to crack down on "terrorism", including Kurdish militant groups such as the PKK.
Mr. Sinan Ogan shook hands with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a meeting on May 19.
He criticized the government and the opposition for allying with the pro-Kurdish party. He laid out four red lines for supporting a candidate in the second round. First, the first four articles of the constitution, which state that Türkiye is a secular, democratic, unitary state with Turkish as its official language, must remain intact.
Second, refugees must be repatriated. Third, economic policies must change and finally, the fight against terrorism must continue. According to Middle East Eye , Mr Ogan's views on the refugee issue are more in line with Mr Kilicdaroglu's than President Erdogan's.
However, the Daily Sabah newspaper on May 19 said that the Erdogan administration and Mr. Ogan see common ground on key policies, including a tough stance against Kurdish separatists. With a safe lead, Mr. Ogan's support could boost President Erdogan's chances of re-election. President Erdogan has signaled that he will not accept concessions to gain Mr. Ogan's support.
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