“To be able to laugh in all the languages of the homeland”: a comparison of Teodor Kasap’s Greek and Turkish Diogenes / Diyojen newspapers

This article examines the Arabic-script Turkish and Greek editions of Diyojen/Diogenes, the satirical newspaper published by Teodor Kasap (1835–1897), a major figure in nineteenth-century Ottoman journalism. Through a comparative analysis of the two versions, it argues that the editions were not mere translations of one another. Instead, they often diverged in content, emphasis, tone, and rhetorical strategy, revealing Kasap’s active editorial recalibration of the same themes for different readerships. The article shows how Kasap’s multilingual satire drew on Ottoman folk theater, especially Ortaoyunu, Karagöz, and Hacivat, as well as classical traditions associated with Diogenes, Menippus, and Lucian of Samosata. In doing so, it identifies Diyojen/Diogenes as a hybrid, translingual project that illuminates the multilingual and multi-confessional public sphere of the late Ottoman Empire.