"New war — new territories": how Tonoyan's slogan led to the 44-day war

The statement by Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan, made in February 2019 about the country's transition to an offensive strategy and his formula "new war - new territories," has once again come into the spotlight amid analysis of the processes that led to the 2020 war.

Political scientist and Board member of the Press Council Yegana Hajiyeva, in her commentary for BAKU.WS, analyzed the political and military processes that preceded the 44-day Patriotic War.

The political scientist noted that from the very beginning of the 44-day Patriotic War, systematic attempts were made on various political and information platforms to portray Azerbaijan as the side that unleashed the conflict.

"The fact that Armenian officials and Armenian diaspora circles promote this narrative is not surprising.

However, the more serious question is that this approach is also reproduced from time to time in certain international political and institutional circles.

This is not simply a dispute about which day and after which event the war began.

Evaluating the political and military processes that led to the war by taking them out of context and viewing them solely through the prism of the events of September 27, 2020, is a biased approach.

In such significant matters, the basis should be not political narratives but pre-war facts, official statements, military-political decisions, and the actual behavior of the parties.

History should be evaluated not only by the outcome of an event but also by the complete picture of the processes that led to it.

The events of 2019–2020 in Armenian-Azerbaijani relations should be viewed not as isolated military escalations but in the context of a change in security strategy," Yegana Hajiyeva stated.

According to her, one of the turning points was the formula "new war - new territories," voiced in March 2019 by Armenian Defense Minister David Tonoyan before the Armenian community in New York.

"Tonoyan stated that the approach of 'territories in exchange for peace' no longer exists, and announced that the Armenian army would move out of a state of permanent defense, and the number of offensive units capable of conducting military operations on Azerbaijani territory would be increased.

To regard this statement as mere rhetoric would be a mistake.

This was not simply a political statement but a claim to change the very philosophy of security.

These words became a proclamation of a transition from defense to offense