Following Nader's expulsion of the Ottoman Empire from the South Caucasus, Ali-Mardan and later Najaf Qoli were given the responsibility of governing Shaki.

However, in 1743 a rebellion emerged under the leadership of the local leader and former tax-collector Haji Chalabi Khan as a response to the ineffective management by Nader's deputies.

[1][2] A khanate was a type of administrative unit governed by a hereditary or appointed ruler subject to Iranian rule.

[3] The khanates were still seen as Iranian dependencies even when the shahs in mainland Iran lacked the power to enforce their rule in the area.

When he repelled an attack south of the Aras river by one of the pretenders to the Iranian throne, his status as khan of Shaki became unquestioned.

In addition to fortifying the town of Shaki, he carried on his father's policy of maintaining cordial ties with the nearby khanates of Shirvan and Quba.

In 1759, Agha Kishi Beg was persuaded to a meeting where he was killed by Mohammad Khan and the latters ally Soltan Ali, a well-known local figure.

[8] Even though Haji Chalabi Khan's descendants were to retain rule over the Shaki Khanate according to the 1805 agreement, Ivan Gudovich soon disregarded that term as he did not have faith in a family that had a history of regularly switching allegiances and betraying each other.

Suleiman Khan ultimately turned himself in to the Russian embassy in Tabriz, claiming that his family in Iran had forced him to stay there.

[15] The administrative and literary language in the Shaki Khanate until the end of the 19th century was Persian, with Arabic being used only for religious studies.