The “velvet revolution” in Armenia stepped in the way of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev’s plans to impress the international community with the cabinet reshuffle he made once re-elected to the President’s post, Azerbaijani expert and political analyst Zaur Shiriyev says in a fresh article.

Elites in Baku worried that any military activity on the line of contact would incur an international backlash, casting Azerbaijan in a negative light as the “velvet revolution” proceeded, Shiriyev says.

“They had hoped that Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev’s cabinet reshuffle, his most significant to date, following his election win on April 11, would generate some positive international coverage,” says the article published on the website of the International Crisis Group.

“Baku wanted to present this change as a first step toward reform at home. Instead, the Yerevan events overshadowed the cabinet reshuffle, leaving it almost unnoticed.”

Tens of thousands of Armenians protested against the former ruling authorities in a civil disobedience campaign that lasted several weeks in April-May.

As a result, former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan was forced to resign, while the parliament elected protest leader Nikol Pashinyan as the country’s new PM.