Purpose: Global governmentality to deal with refugee crises and related cohesion problems suggests the private sector’s activation. The purpose of this study is to theoretically understand this preference together with the global increase of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and empirically access the CSR implementation in Turkey by focussing on government policy towards refugee education for Syrian children in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach: This study offers insights into the picture of CSR implementation in Turkey deriving from an analysis of secondary data, obtained from multiple sources. This analysis is examined in the context of refugee education with the position of Turkish Government. Findings: This study reveals an increase of the private sector’s role in refugee education at the global level by CSR implementations besides privatization of national education. It determines Turkish CSR picture is still developing, but bodies of Turkish government persisting its “soft power” are seen as CSR projects’ indispensable partner. It discusses the meaning of digital solutions in refugee education and attempts at using technological innovations to supply language training in the CSR context. Originality/value: Although plenty of research has been conducted on the refugee education, CSR in the countries faced with large refugee influxes has not received enough attention in the literature. This study attempts to fill the gap in literature dealing with CSR implementations in refugee education. It also contributes to the understanding of the Turkish context of CSR.

DOI: 10.1108/SRJ-04-2020-0145
ISSN: 1747-1117