I think the core idea of this wording is in connection with the article Khanates of the Caucasus The opening of the article is this Khanates of the Caucasus were Persian ruled 1 2 3 principalities on the territory of modern day Indeed the new picture in that article may mislead the reader in that it combines the western states non Persian with eastern Khanates autonomous but under Persian suzerainty in one picture and it should be changed but anyway in the opening sentence the connection with Persia Iran is an important point The picture is also wrong in depicting the borders of Gulistan treaty The states that have no organic connection with Iran like Abkhazia Georgia Chechenia and Daghistan can t be easily considered as Khanates as their rulers where not khans and their title was W l Shamkhal and etc and perhaps Armenian Malikdoms Anyway I prefer this sentence Baku Khanate was a autonomous Muslim principality on the territory of modern day Azerbaijan under Iranian suzerainty Originally a province of Safavid empire it became functionally independent after the assassination of Nadir shah and weakening of central authority in Iran due to the struggle for power