The Javanshirs (; – Javānširān) are a Turkic clan from Karabakh, who belong to the Afshar tribe and are in turn a branch of the Oghuz Turks. Between 1748 and 1822, members of the Javanshir clan functioned as the head of the Karabakh Khanate. History Early years The greater Javanshir tribe is said to of came from Turkestan, as Reza-Qoli Khan Hedayat wrote in his book Rozvat-us-Safa, “the Javanshir elat came from Turkestan and belonged to the tribe of Oshir(Afshar) Khan, who was son of Ildyz Khan, the fourth son of Uguz(Oghuz) Khan.The Javanshir tribe joined the 120-thousand-strong army of Hulagu khan. Under Emir Timur, they came back from Rûm for the second time and spread across Turkestan, Kandahar, Kabul, and Iran. One of its branches led by Ibrahim Khalil Agha, who served Shah Abbas I, remained in Karabakh”.Under the rule of Safavid Iran, the Javanshirs vied with the Qajars and other Qizilbash tribes over the influence in Karabakh. In the course of the Ottoman–Safavid wars, the Javanshirs subordinated the Ottomans in 1589. In retaliation, in 1612–1613, Abbas I of Iran induced the Qajars to kill the Javanshir leaders. In 1626–1627, the Javanshir clan was placed by the shah under the stewardship of Nowruz Beg, a Georgian from the Tulashvili clan and a brother-in-law of Davud khan Allahverdi, who was invested with the governorship of Karabakh. Creation of the Karabakh Khanate Panah Ali Khan, forefather of the dynasty and founder of the Karabakh Khanate, was a representative of an ancestral aristocracy of a Turkic tribe called Javanshir. After Nader Shah's accession to power in Iran, he was called for a service by him, but after several years, in 1738, he was forced to escape from Khorasan to the North, Sheki and Shirvan, with a group of supporters.According to Mirza Adigezal-bek, Nadir Shah replaced murdered Fazl Ali-bek with his younger brother, “handed him the chomak (staff), clad him in the clothes of an eshik-agasy, and conferred on him the rights of his dead elder brother;” Mirza Adigezal-bek believed that Panah Ali-bek found it undignified to “carry the chomak, bow to Nadir Shah, and talk to his osauls.” Due to Nader Shah killing his brother, he went off to plunder wealth with his tribesmen and went into hiding. Murder of Nader Shah in the result of conspiracy led to collapse of the state established by him. Taking advantage of the central power's