Egypt, where it won fresh popularity in its new Turkish guise and until recently was performed in Turkish under the name Aragöz. Karagöz also became popular elsewhere in North Africa, including Algeria and Tunisia, and in cities of the Middle East like Damascus, Beirut, Aleppo, Haifa and Jerusalem. Westwards Karagöz spread into the Balkan countries, becoming so influential that the Romanian corruption of Karagöz, 'Caraghios,' eventually came to mean comical or ridiculous and entered dictionaries with this definition. In Greece Karaghiozis, a closely-related version of the Turkish Karagöz, had a profound influence that has lasted until the present day.

IMPERSONATIONS FROM LIFE
Karagöz characters are stereotypes with particular behaviour patterns, speech and physical appearance, which clearly identify each to the audience. Their personalities are further defined by the attitudes of the other characters to them. The way in which each character is dressed reflects their place of origin, social class, occupation and habits.