GMF held the first meeting of its new Trilateral Strategy Group in Istanbul, June 4-6, 2009. The group is a multi-year initiative organized in partnership with the Turkish Industrialists' and Businessmen's Association, Koc Holding, and the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The project brings together public and private sector leaders and opinion shapers to discuss policy challenges affecting the United States, Turkey, and Europe. In Istanbul, participants addressed "The Global Economic Crisis: Strategic Implications for Turkey, Europe, and the United States." GMF Senior Transatlantic Fellow Dr. Ian O. Lesser offers his summary and reflections on the debate from the Istanbul meeting. His report underscores the potentially far-reaching social, political, and geopolitical consequences of the global crisis. Turkey's troubled EU candidacy may be particularly vulnerable, against a backdrop of declining prosperity and confidence in Europe. But the crisis also raises larger questions about power and competitiveness, and offers opportunities to rethink longstanding approaches to Turkey in a transatlantic context.