Mehr Ali Beg was a son of
Panah Ali Khan, the
khan of the
Karabakh Khanate. While the historians
Abbasgulu Bakikhanov and
Adigozal Beg report that Mehr Ali Beg's brother
Ibrahim Khalil Khan succeeded their father as khan, the historian Ahmad Beg Javanshir reports a different story. According to him, Mehr Ali succeeded his father as khan while Ibrahim Khalil Khan and Panah Ali Khan was taken as hostages to the city of Shiraz by the
Zand ruler
Karim Khan Zand (). However, after Ibrahim Khalil Khan's return in 1761, Mehr Ali Beg was frequently addressed as "
beg" instead of "khan". The two brothers had disagreements on who should rule Karabakh. After marrying the sister of
Umma Khan V of the
Avar Khanate, Ibrahim Khalil Khan established his authority in Karabakh. Mehr Ali Beg then escaped to Karim Khan, who attempted to have Hedayat Khan, the ruler of
Ardabil, take Ibrahim Khalil Khan's place but was unable to. Following Karim Khan's death in 1779, Mehr Ali Beg sought refuge under
Fath-Ali Khan, the khan of the
Quba Khanate. In 1783/84, Mehr Ali Beg was killed by Fath-Ali Khan's subordinate
Aghasi Khan and his son, who as a result were dismissed by Fath-Ali Khan. A different account of Mehr Ali Beg's death is provided by Bakikhanov, who states that he was killed by Aghasi Khan's eldest son Ahmad Khan during a war between Fath-Ali Khan against Aghasi Khan and his ally Mohammad Hasan Khan. == Notes ==