Turkey’s president on Tuesday said Libyan warlord Khalifa Haftar has no official recognition either in the war-weary country or the international community, reports Anadolu.

"Haftar is a mercenary, a paid soldier," Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a press conference in Senegal with his counterpart Macky Sall, adding that Haftar took refuge in the U.S. in the 1990s following his betrayal of then-leader Muammar Qaddafi.

He went on to say that Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj of the UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) is recognized by the UN Security Council and should not be grouped in with the warlord Haftar.

Erdogan said claims the crisis in Libya will be quickly resolved are misguided, decrying how Haftar did not even attend peace meetings held by regional and international actors in Tunisia, Moscow, and Germany, where he "hid in a hotel room."

It would be better if the crisis in Libya moved towards a political process instead of a military one and Libyans determine their own future, he said.