With his political plans for the future thrown into uncertainty due to machinations within the Justice and Development Party (AKP), Turkey’s outgoing president, Abdullah Gul, is leaving office with a grudge against the inner circle of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will be sworn in as president on Aug. 28.

Gul now sees better how Erdogan loyalists operated behind the scenes for months to sideline him and ensure he did not assume any position in the AKP that might pose complications for Erdogan. Gul made his dissatisfaction over the situation clear while talking to reporters during his Aug. 19 farewell reception at the presidential palace.

Gul said he “faced great disrespect from within his own camp” in the lead-up to the Aug. 10 presidential election and after. His “own camp” is the AKP, of course, which Gul co-founded in 2001 with Erdogan.

The generally reserved outgoing first lady, Hayrunnisa Gul, also jumped in on the conversation. She said her husband was being polite and saying far less than he could. Refusing to shake the hand of a pro-government columnist — a staunch Erdogan supporter — Hayrunnisa said she would not hold back from speaking out in the future, adding, “I will start the real intifada [Arabic for uprising or resistance].”