德國防長因論文“抄襲門”辭職

Germany's defense minister, a rising star in Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc and the country's Most popular politician, resigned Tuesday over allegations he plagiarized his doctoral thesis。

Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg told reporters it was the "most painful step of my life," but he felt that he could no longer carry out his duties as minister amid the intense debate surrounding the work and his person。

Guttenberg admitted last month making "grave mistakes" in his 2007 thesis and gave up his academic title of "Dr." but insisted he did not intentionally copy the work。

Following that, Bayreuth University formally removed his academic title in order to uphold the institution's standards, which he said Guttenberg had "seriously violated" by failing to sufficiently credit the source of his work。

But the pressure continued to grow, with the scandal dominating the country's news coverage, despite polls showing the majority of Germans backed him。

On Monday, some 23,000 German academics joined the rising chorus of people demanding his resignation, sending Merkel a joint letter protesting her decision to keep Guttenberg on。

"I was always ready to fight, but have to admit I have reached the limit," Guttenberg told reporters at the Defense Ministry。德國國防部長古滕貝格於本週二宣佈辭職。古滕貝格是德國總理安格拉•默克爾所領導的保守派陣營的政壇新星，也是德國最受歡迎的政治家。

卡爾·特奧多爾·楚·古滕貝格告訴記者，這是“我生命中最艱難的決定”，但有關論文和其人品的激辯使他無法繼續履職。

古滕貝格上月已承認自己2007年發表的論文涉嫌抄襲，犯下“嚴重錯誤”，並放棄博士頭銜，但堅稱自己並非故意抄襲。

事件曝光後，拜羅伊特大學正式取消了他的博士頭銜，以捍衛學術標準，並稱古滕貝格沒有充分指出論文引述內容的來源，“嚴重違規”。

但來自各界的壓力仍不斷增強。儘管調查顯示多數德國人支持古滕貝格，但這起醜聞佔據了德國各大新聞報道。

本週一，大約2.3萬名德國學者加入了要求古滕貝格辭職的行列，給默克爾寄去了一封聯名信，抗議其留任古滕貝格的決定。

古滕貝格在德國國防部接受記者採訪時說：“我隨時準備抗爭，但不得不承認我已經達到了極限。”