i never knew what the turk really where

[Squall of SeeD]

None of that lines up with being insurgents.

The part about them being spies could be linked to it. That suggests subterfuge, and an insurgent can be defined as one who battles a more powerful authority through sabatoge, something often linked to infiltration. Granted, Shin-Ra was the authority and the Turks worked for them, and infiltration and subterfuge aren't necessarily indicative of insurgency, but it's certainly the best fit among the definitions offered by the term "Turk."

There's also the collapse of the Sector 7 Plate, caused by Reno. That's somewhat sabatoge-ish.


In any event, as Luthien Rogue pointed out, the Turks refusing the order to fight AVALANCHE if the player chooses not to fight them in the tunnels beneath Midgar would fit well, and likely better than the first point.

[Greiver205]

Arent the Turks like a real group from like Europe a hella long time ago...

[Camanche]

Well Turks are often what people from Turkey are referred to as.

[Greiver205]

OOOOOO ok...thanks that was really bothering me

[eestlinc]

Arent the Turks like a real group from like Europe a hella long time ago...

xD yes.

They aren't insurgents because insurgents fight the existing power base, whereas the Turks in ff7 work for that power base, albeit somewhat obliquely at times.

[BG-57]

Wouldn't Avalanche be an insurgency group then? They're the ones in FFVII trying to destabilize Shinra's power base through violence.

The Turks always struck me more like secret police, doing the dirty work behind the scenes to maintain a tyrannical city-state.

[Big D]

The use of the word 'Turk' in FFVII has, in my opinion, no connection to people from Turkey. I think we can dismiss it as a situation where a made-up word in a fantasy world simply sounds the same as a word from our own world. Just like all the fantasy characters whose nicknames are the same as real-world names - Mat, Tom, Sam, etc.