On the occasion of the centennial of the former French PresidentCharles de Gaulle's birth, I would like to offer a comparison betweenAtatürk, the national hero of Turkey, and de Gaulle, the national hero ofFrance. Although the two great statesmen lived and acted at different periodsof history, they belong more or less to the same half-century and were,therefore, subject to roughly similar political and social forces. Comparingthem can be considered useful to better understand the distinguished personsas well as their times.Allow me to describe first the circumstances of Atatürk's times. TheFirst World War had ended with the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. Soon aftathe signing of the armistice of Mudros (30 October 1918), large sections ofTurkey which until then had not yet been invaded, were occupied by theAllies-for instance, Eastem Thrace, the Adana region, Hatay, Antep, Maraş,Urfa, Mosul, Antalya, Fethiye, Marmaris, Bodrum and Konya. In manyplaces the Allies (England, France, Italy) had small military detachmentsand/or control officers. The Arab possessions of the Ottoman Empire hadalready been occupied during the fıghting before the armistice. For the Turks,this was certainly a very grave situation.