Turks

The Turks (タークス Tākusu) is the unofficial nickname of the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department of the Shinra Electric Power Company in Final Fantasy VII. They work inside the Department of Public Safety under Heidegger. The Turks perform black ops on behalf of the corporation, including kidnappings and assassinations. One of their main functions is to "recruit" SOLDIER candidates by force. The spin-off game Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- focuses exclusively on the Turks in the years leading up to Final Fantasy VII.

All Turks, even female members, wear navy blue business suits and ties. In the Compilation, their color seems to have been changed to plain black.{|summary="Contents" class="toc" id="toc" http://
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During Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- the Turks are led by Verdot, with Tseng below him. Along with veterans such as Reno and Rude, the Turks are made up of eight rookie playable characters, whom the player names. These characters fight AVALANCHE, a powerful eco-terrorist organization bent on destroying Shinra. At one point, President Shinra replaces Verdot with Heidegger as the commander of the Turks, which leads to disastrous results. Verdot uses blackmail on President Shinra to make him return the Turks to his command.

During the battles, Verdot discovers that the AVALANCHE leader is actually his daughter, Elfé. She is now twisted by her evil scientist lieutenant, Fuhito. To save Elfé from the ancient summon inside her, Zirconiade, the player Turks defect from Shinra using Rufus Shinra, as leverage to stay safe. Even so, President Shinra orders Scarlet to kill off the Turks. Despite the threats from both Shinra and AVALANCHE, the Turks succeed in stopping Fuhito and destroying Zirconiade. Afterwards, Verdot and his daughter, along with the player Turks disappear. Tseng reports that he "assassinated" them all, which allows him to become the new leader of the Turks.http://

During the same time as the war with AVALANCHE, a few Turks are also ordered to aid in the battle against the defector SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos. Tseng aids Zack Fair in a mission to Genesis's hometown of Banora Village to investigate the disappearance of two unnamed Shinra operatives. They are found dead and buried. Tseng also accompanies Zack on a mission to Modeoheim.

During the attack on Midgar Sector 8 Reno and the Before Crisis player Turk "Shuriken (Female)"--now known as Cissnei--are sent out to fight. During the fighting, Zack Fair saves Cissnei from Genesis Copies, and the two become friends. Cissnei allows Zack Fair to flee safely from Nibelheim following his escape from the Jenova Project, and further aids his attempt to return to Midgar. However, the Turks fail to save Zack from the Shinra army, though they do try to organize a rescue by helicopter.http://

Working for Shinra, the Turks come into conflict repeatedly with the party of Cloud Strife, who are working to save the Planet from Shinra's exploitation. They are ordered to capture Aerith Gainsborough, the last remaining Cetra and the only person who can lead Shinra to the Promised Land. Though they are led by Tseng, only Reno, Rude, and the new recruit, Elena actually directly fight with Cloud's party. It was the Turks who performed the operation that destroyed Sector 7.

The Turks are sent into the Temple of the Ancients to investigate Sephiroth, the murderer of President Shinra. During the mission, Tseng is badly wounded by Sephiroth, and seemingly killed, though he actually survives in later sequels.

Though they are enemies, the Turks actually work together with Cloud's party in Wutai. Don Corneo, an enemy of both the party and Shinra takes refuge in Wutai, but has not changed his lecherous ways. He kidnaps both Yuffie Kisaragi and Elena for his own wishes. But, working together, Cloud's party defeats Corneo's monster Rapps and the Turks kill him by throwing him off the Da Chao statue.

The last the Turks are seen in-game is during the chaos in Midgar following the explosion at Shinra Headquarters which decapitates Shinra and brings the city into complete disorder. The Turks this time are not very interested in fighting Cloud's party, and if the player so chooses they may not fight the Turks.http://

The Turks of Final Fantasy VII also appear in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, which occurs two years after the game. Due to the fact that the Shinra empire has collapsed, they are technically no longer Turks, although they continue to wear their Turk uniforms and work for their boss, former company president Rufus. They primarily serve as body guards, but they also aid Rufus in his mission to repay Shinra's debt for "putting the world into its current, pathetic state." They fight against the Remnants of Sephiroth, and even defeat Loz and Yazoo with a bomb, though the Remnants still manage to show up and nearly kill Cloud.

Technically, since Shinra is no longer in-tact, the Turks do not officially exist.http://

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Tseng is the stern, temperamental, long black-haired leader of the Turks. Though he is loyal to Shinra he often betrays orders for his own personal reason. For example, he puts off capturing Aerith Gainsborough for years, and does not kill his old mentor Verdot. Elena is smitten with him. Injured by Sephiroth in the Temple of the Ancients, he was unseen for the rest of Final Fantasy VII, presumed by many fans to be dead. However, he appears in the movie Advent Children together with Elena, saving Rufus after he threw Jenova's head—and himself—off of a building. He was tortured by Kadaj early in the film, but was eventually rescued by Vincent Valentine.http://

Reno is said to be the fastest of the Turks. Cocky, cynical and somewhat lazy, he has a long red ponytail. Unlike the other Turks, who all are well-groomed and professional, Reno's suit is sloppy and untucked. Reno serves as an antagonist throughout Final Fantasy VII. He fights using an electro-magnetic rod, and is usually seen alongside Rude. In Advent Children, he is seen with Rufus and the rest of the Turks, and helps Cloud fight Kadaj and his gang.http://

Rude is a tall, bald man with a little goatee, and is rarely seen without Reno. He wears a pair of dark sunglasses constantly, even keeping a spare pair for if they break. He fights without weapons, much in the same way as Tifa Lockhart does. He has a soft spot for Tifa, demonstrated by the fact that he will not attack her if she battles him in the many encounters in Final Fantasy VII, and has even (reluctantly) admitted to having a crush on her. He is seen with Rufus in Advent Children. Also he helps Reno fight Kadaj and his gang.http://

A young woman with short, blond hair and brown eyes, she is naive, impetuous and somewhat overeager. Her older sister was also a Turk, though the two were not on speaking terms. During the time of Final Fantasy VII, she was the newest member of the Turks, promoted after Cloud, Barret, and Tifa injured Reno. She appears to fight using grenades and other projectiles rather than a normal weapon. She was tortured by Kadaj and spent most of Advent Children recovering, returning with Tseng in time to save Rufus.http://

The main characters of Before Crisis were all Turks at one point. The player chooses from ten unnamed characters, five young men and five young women, each with his or her own back story, personality, strengths, and weaknesses. An unlockable Turk known as Legendary Turk has his very own side-story. Six of these Turks also appear in the animated short Last Order: Final Fantasy VII, where they act as support for Tseng, Reno, and Rude, but none are named on screen and they have little dialogue. http://

One of the player Turks listed above, she plays a large role in Crisis Core helping Zack Fair. Known as "Shuriken (Female)" in 'Before Crisis, she calls herself "Cissnei" when talking to Zack Fair, though she says that is not her real name. Cissnei is warm-hearted and has a mothering side which can border on bossy, which often manifests in how she looks after her colleagues. She puts her personal morals above her Shinra orders. Some Second and Third Class SOLDIERs consider her the most beautiful woman in Shinra. http://

He is the previous leader of the Turks. He has no patience with failure from his subordinates. Most of the Turks are terrified of Verdot's severity; Tseng, however, considers him a role model and eventually succeeds him. Despite his tough exterior, he is actually a man pained by the loss of his family, and eventually betrays Shinra with the player Turks to save his daughter, Elfé. Verdot appears only in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-. http://

Vincent served as a gunman in the Turks, thirty years prior to the start of Final Fantasy VII. Despite his young appearance, Vincent is actually old enough to have worked with Verdot when they were both new Turks. While on a mission in Nibelheim during the later stages of the Jenova Project, Vincent was shot by Hojo, who then used him for experimental purposes, turning him into the man seen in Final Fantasy VII and its subsequent sequels. The experiment Professor Hojo performed on Vincent altered his body in many ways, one of the most notable is he does not age. Thirty years after the experiment his features remains the same, although he has lived for 57 years.

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Two unnamed agents were killed by 1st Class SOLDIER Genesis Rhapsodos when they went to Banora Village to investigate. They, along with Genesis' "parents," were buried by him under a Banora White tree. Considering their attire and association with Shinra corporation, it is reasonable to speculate there may yet be more Turks unknown by name.