Carlucci Ends Soviet Visit, Goes to Turkey

Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci, citing a “considerable expansion” of U.S.-Soviet military contacts, arrived in Turkey on Thursday at the end of an unprecedented four-day visit to the Soviet Union.

Before his departure from Soviet soil, Carlucci said differences between the United States and the Soviet Union “are still such that it will take some time to settle them,” but he said it is clear that neither party wants military conflict.

Carlucci, who wrapped up his Soviet trip with a red-carpet tour of the guided missile cruiser Slava in the Black Sea fleet, opened his two-day stop in Turkey with separate 30-minute talks with Turkish Prime Minister Turgut Ozal, Defense Minister Ercan Vuralhan and the chief of staff, Gen. Necep Torumtay.

The content of their talks was not revealed.

The trip by Carlucci, the first American defense secretary to make a solo visit to the Soviet Union, will be followed by a reciprocal trip later this year by Soviet Defense Minister Dmitri T. Yazov.

The visits are part of an exchange of defense personnel intended to ease tensions between the superpowers and prevent military encounters from escalating into a conflict.

Carlucci was welcomed aboard the Slava, one of the Soviets’ most modern warships, by Fleet Adm. Mikhail N. Khronopulo and a cadre of traditionally garbed Soviet sailors assembled under a fluttering American flag at the Sebastopol naval base.

“It was real enjoyable,” Carlucci said after the tour. “We have seen your country, we have been shown your weapons. Our impressions are very favorable.”